Palpable tension enveloped a Registration Area Centre (RAC) in Ife East Local Government of Osun State, as armed policemen allegedly fired teargas at voters, election officials and other stakeholders, disrupting the distribution of election materials.
The development comes as the gubernatorial election got underway in the 30 local government areas of the state on Saturday.
It was learnt that the incident occurred at Ward 10 (Modakeke ward 3) as election personnel gathered at the centre to proceed to their respective polling units with election materials.
A video of the incident circulated on X early on Saturday.
In the video, a woman could be heard shouting that the police were tear-gassing.
A source said the policemen caused disruption of election materials distribution at the centre.
“The police have started firing tear gas at us at the RAC centre. We had already assembled and were fully prepared to move to our various polling units with the election materials alongside the INEC officials before this unfortunate incident occurred,” the source said.
According to the source, the deployment of teargas by the policemen was part of an attempt to intimidate voters and election monitors and discourage them from participating in the electoral process.
