Political rivalry between Mombasa governor governor aspirants Suleiman Shahbal and Abdulswamand Nassir escalated on Tuesday after their supporter's clashed during the International women' day celebrating event held at the Tononoka grounds.

Chaos rocked the event when some rowdy youth from both sides engaged in running battles hurling stones at one another forcing the converners of the meeting to suspend speeches.

 Several youth who are supporters of the two Orange Democratic Movement ODM party politicians were arrested by Police for trying to disrupt the women's meeting organized by the Mombasa county government.

Suleiman Shahbal’s wife Rahma Shahbal who was at the function was hurriedly escorted out of the venue by her security when things got out of hand only to return to the venue later.

Normalcy resumed for a while when police were called to quell the building tension, but it erupted again when Mombasa deputy governor William Kingi attempted to deny Nassir an opportunity to address the crowd.

The deputy governor's one minute speech was cut short by heckles, and even after one of  Nassir's Supporter  unsuccessfully grabbed the microphone from Kingi.

"This is not a campaign function, and therefore we ask Nassir to keep off the meeting, we discourage you not to speak because you will cause a fight and people will be injured, let’s avoid political chaos," Kingi told Nassir.

But when Nassir took to the podium, he slammed Shahbal accusing him of having allegedly hired youth and women groups to bring violence in Tononoka.Nassir asked his supporters to remain calm and avoid chaos.

“Even if they hurl insults at us, even if they throw stones at us, we shall not respond to them, we must be peaceful people because we have a common agenda, that is to improve the lives of Mombasa people,'' said Nassir.

But Shahbal’s wife Rahma Shahbal who had earlier emphasized on good and visionary leadership that is free from insults and intimidation left the venue immediately Nassir started speaking.

"We have five months to elections, we should stop chaos, we need to show love to one another, we are expected to respect one another, as women we should be respectful, we discourage political chaos in the coming elections,'’ said Shahbal's wife.

Rahma has come out to publicly campaign for her husband who is seeking to be elected as the governor for the third time after losing two times.

“My women, I want to urge you to come out in large numbers, I know what you are going through, because I was there, I came from a very humble background, before I met my husband,” she stated.

Women leaders who took to the podium condemned the manner in which the two politician’s supporters conducted themselves in a show of political supremacy. Both Nassir and Shahbal are contesting for Mombasa county governor seat.

Shanzu ward MCA Mamuna Salim Mwawasi and nominated MCA Priscilla Mumba expressed their disappointment with the continued disrespect of women leaders. Some of the women leaders who spoke were heckled and humiliated by rival supporters.

"You have betrayed us as youth, we are perturbed by the kind of disrespect our youth have  displayed, we are encouraged to stop using our supporters to humiliate one another. This is bad and should be discouraged,” said Maimuna.  

Mumba said leaders who perpetrate chaos or instigate chaos should be voted out because they don't man good for the people," said Mumba.

Other women MCAs leaders present were Fatma Kushe (Nominated), Timbwani ward MCA Mwaka Bakari and Amriya Boy (Nominated).

"They can do nothing in our area,we are in Mvita and Mvita is where our next governor will come from,” said Mumba who is a staunch supporter of Abdulswamand Nassir .

Mombasa women rep Aisha Hussein maintained that she will be seeking reelection through an ODM ticket.

Mvita Mp Abdulswamad Nassir's mother Mama Nassim was also present during the event, she called on Nassir's rivals to brace a tough battle in the race to succeed Hassan Joho as the next Mombasa governor.

"We have not started yet, we will go everywhere, knock every door campaigning for my son Nassir" said Mama Nassim.

Businessman Suleiman Shahbal has said he does not fear any competitor in the race to succeed Governor Hassan Joho.

Shahbal is fighting it out with Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir and deputy governor William Kingi for the ODM ticket to vie for the county’s top seat.