A'IBOM RIOT CLAIMED 4 LIVES, 700 VEHICLES BURNT - PANEL

By WOLE MOSADOMI
MINNA- Four persons were confirmed dead while 280 were injured in the violence that preceded the general elections in Akwa Ibom State, the Chairman of the Presidential Investigation Panel on the 2011 Election and Civil Disturbance, Justice Samson Uwaifo, has said.

Uwaifo, who spoke to newsmen in Minna, Niger State, yesterday, added that 700 vehicles were  burnt during the violence.

According to him, a private school building was also razed down by  hoodlums, adding that property worth millions of naira were lost during the crises.

Justice Uwaifo, who was in Minna with members of his team on the last leg of the nationwide visit of the panel, described the Akwa Ibom State violence as 'atrocious, very bad and uncalled for,' wondering why such destructions could have happened when there were  more civilized ways of expressing one's anger and seeking redress.

He added that although there was post-election violence in Nasarawa State, the magnitude was incomparable to that of Akwa Ibom State as no life was lost and less property were destroyed.

On the responses from the people of the states the panel visited, Nwaifor said they were so far, very encouraging, adding that Nigerians were becoming very enlightened.