Unknown assailants gunned down a local councillor in broad daylight Saturday at a voting centre in Nigeria’s Anambra state, shattering the relative calm of the governorship election and exposing glaring lapses in protection for voters and officials.
The attack unfolded around 1:30 pm at a polling unit in Owerre Ezukala Ward 1, Orumba South Local Government Area, as the southeastern commercial hub’s 2.3 million registered voters navigated the ballot for a new governor among 18 contenders, including incumbent Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.
The victim, identified only as the ward councillor, was fatally shot while attempting to cast his vote, according to eyewitnesses who decried the brazen assault amid a heavy security blanket. Community leader Odogwu Odemenna, speaking from the scene, described the horror: “My ward is in flame as we speak. The councillor of my Ward was shot dead this afternoon while he was trying to cast his vote by gunmen.”
He lambasted the response from on-site forces, noting: “Security operatives were around when the incident happened but they couldn’t stop the hoodlums.” Odemenna, voicing the outrage of stunned residents, added: “We have notified the police and other security agencies over the incident. Policemen and soldiers are all over the community pursuing them. A day like today, security shouldn’t have been porous in Orumba South Local Government Area to even give the hoodlums opportunity to strike. The election was going peacefully until this incident happened.”
Another unnamed leader corroborated the chaos: “While voting in Owerre Ezukala ward 1, unknown gunmen came in and shot a top person and left. The councillor of Owerre Ezukala was fatally shot by the men.”
Anambra police spokesperson Tochukwu Ikenga had not responded to inquiries by late afternoon, leaving the motive — potentially tied to local rivalries or election tensions — shrouded in uncertainty. The force earlier pledged airtight coverage statewide, deploying thousands to deter disruptions in a poll already marred by vote-buying allegations.
The slaying marks a stark rupture in what observers had otherwise praised as a well-run vote under new Independent National Electoral Commission chair Joash Amupitan, with over 40 percent of results uploaded digitally by evening. As collation proceeds into Sunday, the incident amplifies calls for accountability, threatening to deepen distrust in Nigeria’s democratic machinery amid persistent banditry and insurgency in the region.
