Three delegates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on their way to the rescheduled Governorship primary have been shot dead by terrorists.
They were travelling from Mariga local government area to Minna, the Niger state capital when the tragedy struck.
The Chairman of the gubernatorial Electoral Committee and Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo confirmed the killing of the three delegates shortly before the commencement of the rescheduled Party Primaries at the party Secretariat, in Minna.
The delegates were killed while returning from Mariga after they had gone to obtain their means of identification following postponement of the primary due to a protest by some of the aspirants who insisted that every delegate must show a means of identification apart from the party membership.
Delegates were thereafter asked to go and bring their means of identification to authenticate their names, forcing the Electoral Committee to the shift the primaries to Thursday (today).
The victims were however substituted to complete the number of delegates from the local government..
One of the delegates from Mariga, Shehu Haruna, said that the incident happened between Mariga and Tegina and four people were killed in the attack.
“We left Minna in the late hours when PDP postponed the Governorship Primaries to Thursday, and that we should go and bring our voter’s card or any means of identification. We were retuning from home where we had gone to get our means of identification and on the road we ran into bandits who opened fire on our vehicle from different direction.
“Though we were able to escape scene since the driver was not hit by bullet, four people however died instantly in the vehicle.”
He said the local government which shares border with Birnin-Gwari in Kaduna state has been under siege from gunmen who have continued to terrorise the area with impunity.
Haruna called for permanent security operatives in the area to safeguard travellers and communities in the area.
