In the early hours of Sunday, a fight broke out between party agents at the state collation centre for the Imo gubernatorial election.

The violence resulted in the party agent of the Labour Party (LP) being beaten and bundled out of the collation hall while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agent was ushered out.

The incident began after the results from Orsu LGA were announced.

According to the declared results, Hope Uzodinma, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, polled 18,003 votes, while LP’s Athan Achonu had 813 votes and Samuel Anyanwu of the PDP garnered 624 votes.

In reaction, the LP and PDP party agents contested the results, alleging that the election was never held in the LGA and that the figures presented were “manufactured”.

The party agents proceeded to the front of the hall, airing their displeasure.

Abayomi Fashina, the state returning officer, urged them to return to their seats and accused them of disrupting the collation exercise.

Shortly after, the protesting party agents were swarmed by their colleagues in the hall.

Shoves led to punches and kicks, and the protesting party agents were eventually bundled out of the collation hall.

Order was subsequently restored in the hall, and the collation exercise resumed.