Operatives of Delta State Police Command, on Tuesday, thwarted efforts by some unidentified youths to destroy an area office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Warri.

It was gathered that the young men, armed with weapons and containers filled with substance suspected to be fuel, chanted war songs and made moves to force their way into the local INEC premises while its officials were out for delineation of electoral units and wards, in compliance with a Supreme Court judgment.

Worried by the development, a concerned passer-by reportedly contacted the police, who responded swiftly to the call and chased the hoodlums away from the INEC office.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, confirmed the incident.

Political sources hinted that while the Warri indigenous Urhobo and their Ijaw counterparts were in support of the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment on the delineation of electoral units and wards in the Warri federal constituency, the Itsekiri were alleged to have opposed the exercise.

INEC officials had last Wednesday visited Gbaramatu Kingdom in the Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State for the commencement of the wards/units’ delineation.

The commission’s officials visited Oporoza, the traditional headquarters of the Gbaramatu Kingdom and began a fresh delineation of electoral wards and polling units in the Warri Federal Constituency.

PUNCH