The primary elections conducted on Friday by the Benue State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, were characterized by controversies and violence in some wards.
Newsmen gathered that the state Chairman of the APC, Austin Agada, narrowly escaped being lynched as aggrieved members of the party protesting over irregularities descended on him.
Eyewitness accounts revealed that the incident happened in Otukpa, the headquarters of the Ogbadibo Local Government Area where the irate members of the APC vented their anger on Agada to send a message to the leadership of the party.
Agada is from Ogbadibo LGA where the angry APC members in a mob-style manhandled him for claiming that there was an election in any part of the Benue South Senatorial District of the state.
In a video, which has gone viral, fisticuffs ensued as the state APC Chairman tried to convince the members that the primaries took place.
The APC members were heard shouting at Agada to produce evidence of result sheets and election materials to show where the primaries took place. While attempting to explain, the angry members pounced on him as gunshots could be heard while people scampered for safety.
An eye-witness at the bloody incident, who pleaded anonymity, narrated that it took the swift intervention of security agents who whisked Agada away from being lynched as he was heard shouting for help.