Violence marred the All Progressives Congress primary for the Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency in Edo State, election panel said on Sunday evening.
The committee said party members, who assembled at the venues of the exercise held across the 10 wards, were harassed and intimidated.
But the Commissioner of Police in Edo State, Mr Johnson Kokumo, disagreed that violence was recorded in the affected area.
“The primary, as conducted by the team (committee) that came in, was free of any form of violence. It was a hitch-free exercise,” Kokumo told The PUNCH on the telephone.
The election was between the incumbent, Mr Peter Akpatason, and the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mr Kabiru Adjoto.
There had been disagreements among supporters of the two aspirants over who should get the party’s ticket ahead of the 2019 general elections.
While Akpatason is currently serving his second term in the House of Representatives, Adjoto would complete his third term as the lawmaker representing Akoko-Edo II constituency in the state House of Assembly.
Briefing journalists at the APC state secretariat in Benin, the chairman of the state primary election committee, Hajia Farida Suleiman, said the results of the exercise from the area were not ready due to the crisis.
In a related development, governorship primary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in Imo State again ended in a deadlock.
When it became obvious that the party could not arrive on a consensus candidate among the 13 governorship aspirants, a police detachment led by an Assistant Inspector General of Police, Hosea Karma, came and dispersed the crowd which was mostly made up of political thugs imported by some of the aspirants.
The primary could not also take place on Friday owing to the failure of the leadership of the party to resolve the problem of authentic delegates’ lists and the issue of a consensus candidate.