Hoodlums on Saturday invaded the venue of an empowerment programme for women organised by Senator Ahmed Ogembe in Okene, Kogi state.
Guests, party members and the would-be-beneficiaries of the empowerment programme were at the Afims Hotel venue when the hoodlums came wielding dangerous weapons, attacking people and disrupting the seating arrangement for the event.
The few security men at the hotel were said to have been overwhelmed by the thugs, who scattered tables and chairs and triggered a bedlam.
The thugs said to be armed with dangerous weapons searched frantically for Ogembe who is representing Kogi Central Senatorial district but could not lay hands on him.
Ogembe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was said to be a few meters away from the hotel when the thugs came.
Guests, some political associates of Ogembe and beneficiaries of the empowerment programme were injured during the bedlam.
The thugs later fled the hotel in different directions to escape arrest.
Ogembe, who later showed up at the venue, ordered that the injured be taken to hospital for treatment and appealed to the remaining people at the venue to remain calm.
The senator, after due consultation with his party members, announced that the ceremony must hold.
Addressing journalists, Ogembe said that the incident had been reported to the police.
Attempts made to get the police to comment on the incident proved abortive as calls made to the telephone line of the state police command spokesman, ASP William Aya, were not answered.
One thousand and two hundred women from five local governments of Adavi, Okene, Okehi, Ajaokuta and Ogori-Magongo, making up the senatorial district, were selected to benefit from the programme.
Ogembe gave each woman N20,000 to start a business.
