APGA, PDP clash, at election petition tribunal

The inspection of election materials   used for the governorship election in Abia State by All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as loyalists clashed yesterday, inside the Election Petition Tribunal hall at the High Court premises, Umuahia, APGA members accused PDP of frustrating the exercise by applying delay tactics.
The loyalists of the two parties shouted, booed and harassed one another.
Trouble started when a camera man from a Lagos-based television station who was covering the exercise, was taken  away by security agents.
The cameraman, Chinedu, was accused of videoing the computer screen of the PDP forensic experts,  and the attention of a PDP lawyer was drawn. She immediately made a call and a Hilux load of mobile police-men landed at the tribunal ground and took Chinedu away to an unknown place, after collecting his camera.
An APGA representative, Mr  Michael Akpara told newsmen that the uproar started when they noticed that their opponents wanted to slow down the  exercise.
A member of PDP team, is a  forensic expert, declined to disclose his identity, told newsmen that the altercation ensued when the cameraman came into the hall and moved beyond his limits and started videoing the screen of his computer.
“He took a screen shot of the things we had produced and what we had inputted into the system, the output that was being done, he took the screen shot. That is forbidden , that is the whole essence of what I am here for. The screen shot can be taken to another person to analyze, the same screen shot, he can wirelessly move that particular shot even while he is here. I don’t know who he is working for he can do that wirelessly.  .  In other words, even when you say delete,  deleting anything does not actually delete the file. Forensically, that file is not deleted, it is somewhere else, he ought not to have done that and having done that , he has actually interfered with the job we are doing here. That was what brought the problem here, that was what I got involved into, that he went straight to my system”, and when he was asked of his identity, he quietly walked away.
When contacted on the matter, an aide of the Governor, Mr Enyinnaya Apollos  rebuked the unidentified security agents who whisked the Channels television cameraman away, stating that he was doing his lawful work. He said that the public should be informed about the exercise and that no security agent has any right to whisk him away for carrying out his lawful  duty.
Reacting on the matter, Nwankwo Ndionyenma, who led APGA team of inspectors expressed disappointment over what he described as calculated attempt by PDP, in connivance with INEC  to stall the inspection .
“We observed that all the ballot papers were mixed up in different boxes , rather than have each election material in one identifiable bag.
He said that representatives of PDP have been creating confusion in the process just to waste time and delay the process so that the exercise would not be completed.
He expressed surprise for the joint inspection as his client obtained a distinction order of the tribunal for this inspection, when PDP opposed the exercise vehemently. He wondered why PDP suddenly became interested alleging that the essence of their participation was to cause confusion and delay”.
As at the time of filing this report , the exercise was still going on at the tribunal ground.