Melaye, Murray-Bruce, PDP clash with officers during protest at Police headquarters in Abuja

Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West - PDP) was involved in a struggle with police officers during a protest at the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja on Friday, October 5, 2018.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and national chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, led the protest to the headquarters to protest the alleged partisanship of the Force in favour of the current government.

The party accused the Force of helping the government to engage in electoral malpractices that swung the results of the recent Ekiti and Osun governorship elections in favour of the ruling All Progressives' Congress (APC).

The protest at the Force Headquarters followed a similar one at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), also on Friday, over the result of the recently-concluded Osun governorship election.

The protesters had demanded the cancellation of the rerun election which turned the tide and ensured victory for the APC.

Pictures and videos have now emerged on social media showing a clash between the group of protesters and police officers who were on the scene to maintain order.

Melaye was one of the main actors of the clash as he could be seen in a shoving match with police officers who appeared to be pushing him back from breaking through the security barricade set to keep the protesters at a distance.

The lawmaker could be seen shouting back at officers as he got pushed forward by the crowd behind him and pushed back by the officers trying desperately to maintain control.

Senator Ben Murray-Bruce (Bayelsa East - PDP), who also appeared in the pictures, took to his Twitter account to allege that the crowd of protesters, including him, were teargassed by the officers.

He tweeted, "I have just been teargassed by the at office. Gunshots have been fired. This was and still is a peaceful protest. How can I be treated like this in a country I have fought for and invested in? This is madness, I came with words they answered with bullets!"

He later posted a video of the scuffle between Senator Melaye and police officers on his Twitter account, calling the act "unconscionable in a democracy".

The protesters earlier marched to INEC's office to demand that the PDP candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke,be declared the winner of the election by scrapping a rerun that was conducted.

The rerun election took place on Thursday, September 27, 2018, just days after INEC declared the original September 22 election to have been inconclusive.

This was because the victory margin of 353 votes of first-placed contestant, Senator Adeleke (254,698 votes), of the PDP over APC's second-placed Gboyega Oyetola (254,345 votes) was less than the 3498 votes cancelled in seven polling units.

In the rerun election that took place in those affected polling units on Thursday, Oyetola won the rerun election with a difference of 835 votes as he acquired a total of 1160 votes to Adeleke's 325.

The poll closed with Oyetola winning a total 255,505 votes, 482 more votes than Adeleke's 255,023. INEC's Chief Returning Officer for the elections, ProfessorJoseph Afuwape,declared Oyetola the winner in Osogbo