According to findings, some polling places in Surulere Local Council of Lagos State saw voting process disruptions and the removal of ballot boxes.
Around 10 am, some political thugs broke into polling places on Karounwin, Soyinka, and Jimoh Ojoku streets in Surulere, where they intermittently fired shots into the air. The assault caused those waiting in line to cast their ballots to flee, including the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) ad hoc staff.
A few minutes after the thugs left the area, voting started again, only for the thugs to come back. The voters’ list that was pasted on the walls by the polling places was torn during the first visit, but during the second visit, the thugs opened the ballot box at polling place 035 and stole some ballots.
It was discovered that police officers only showed up at the scene after the two invasion incidents. Later, some soldiers joined the police officers who were preserving calm and order on the scene.
The same thing happened in the communities of Muyiwa Opaleye and Aguda, where voting was halted but resumed after security personnel restored order.
Five thugs were detained in connection with election violence, according to a security officer who helped some military personnel keep order and peace on Opaleye Street.
The presidential election ballot boxes were destroyed at Erinono Primary School’s Johnson Bus Stop, while the House of Representatives and Senate ballot boxes were removed.
It was noted that some polling places did not have security personnel present, which allowed for violence to be committed by lawbreakers. It was also noted that there was no security personnel on duty in any of the polling places where there was violence at the time the disruption occurred.
They started throwing bottles and trying to get the election materials away from the Adhoc staff, according to an Opaleye resident.
They threw pre-printed ballots into the gutter, but after the thugs left, they were later picked up and rearranged. We are familiar with the person because he did it four years ago and then promised to do it again this time. He is a politician who travels with thugs from his party. Unfortunately, there was nobody on duty for security. Shortly after the thugs had gone, the soldiers arrived.
Even though some election officers arrived late to their polling places, voting proceeded without any issues in the other Surulere Local Council polling places that I visited. Additionally, Adesanya Adediran Adeyemi, an Olatilewa Street resident, was seen marching into Abimbola Street while ringing a bell and urging people to cast ballots.
However, youngsters and residents could be seen playing football on many of the council’s streets.
There was also noted to be a low voter turnout. For instance, as of 11:23 am, 45 out of the 305 registered voters at Polling Unit 033 in Sanya had cast ballots. Similar to this, only 67 of the 172 registered voters at Polling Unit 078, Karounwi, Itire at 1:52 pm received voting credentials. 818 voters were anticipated at Itire’s Polling Unit 36, but as of 1:53 p.m., only 133 had done so.
Nevertheless, one of the resident’s people Egunjobi Kazeem claimed that when some thugs invaded Karounwin Street, he fell and injured his hand while fleeing.
He said that although the INEC ad hoc staff fled with the thugs into a nearby building, the thugs were about to smash the ballot boxes in his unit. According to him, some ballots were taken from one of the ballot boxes in the polling location next to his.
In conclusion, many of the residents who were waiting in line to cast their ballots left after being hounded off the line by political thugs.
Source: Punch
