Low voter turnout, violence mar Ogun LG poll •Obasanjo’s name, others missing from voter register
Queues of voters at Ward 10, Unit 2, at Obafemi Owode.
| credits: Olatunji Obasa
Low turnout of voters, alleged irregularities and pockets of violence marred Saturday’s election in the 20 local government councils and 236 wards in Ogun State.
Governor Amosun of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria and the main opposition, the People’s Democratic Party, traded words over alleged massive rigging of the poll in many parts of the state.
This development came just as the name of former president Olusegun Obasanjo was said to have been found missing from the voter register.
Also, several other voters in the state could not find their names on the voters’ register, a development which most of the victims described as a calculated attempt to disenfranchise them and rig the election.
At Ward 11, Unit 15, Totoro, African Church Grammar School, where Obasanjo was supposed to cast his vote, the presiding officer who did not want to be identified told journalists that the former president’s name could not be found on the voter register and directed newsmen to check at Unit 16.
The Presiding Officer at Unit 16, Kolawole Oyetola, confirmed few minutes to the end of the accreditation exercise that the former president’s name was not among those on the voter register in his possession.
“I have checked through this register several times, Baba’s name is not here. I suggest that you go to the next polling booth.”
The former president however, failed to turn up for both the accreditation and the voting exercise.
In Sagamu, the Akarigbo and paramount ruler of Remoland, Oba Michael Sonariwo, did not vote due to the non-availability of voter register at his Ward 2, Owonifari polling unit.
Sonariwo who arrived at the polling unit for accreditation at about 9:35am in company with some family members could not find any electoral officers at the polling unit and had to return to his palace after a while.
The electoral officers, who eventually arrived at about 10:45am told the few voters they met in the queue to register their names on a plain sheet of paper so that they would not be disenfranchised.
The vehement opposition put up by the voters in the queue who demanded the production of the real voter register forced the electoral officers to flee and as at 12:35pm they had not returned.
At Odogbolu Local Government, the name of the PDP Chairmanship candidate, Mr. Gbenga Osinowo, was also missing on the register.
Osinowo who confirmed the development described the election as a “charade and a sham.”
He said, “This election is the mother of all rigging.”
In Ikenne, Obafemi Owode, Abeokuta North and South, Remo North and Sagamu, Ijebu East, Odeda, Ijebu North East, Ijebu North, Ado-Odo/Otta, Ifo, Ijebu Ode, Ewekoro and Yewa North, the turnout was low as residents in many of these areas stayed indoors while many others went about their normal business.
However, in Ipokia Local Government, enthusiastic voters were said to have besieged the polling booths to cast their votes.
Before voting commenced, residents in many parts of the state complained of inadequate supply and late arrival of voting materials.
In Igbesa town, Ado -Odo/Otta Local Government, electoral materials were still being distributed as at 12noon, 30 minutes before the casting of votes commenced.
At Oluwo polling unit, Obafemi Owode Local Government, there were no electoral officers as at 11:35am while the few voters who turned out for the exercise were becoming impatient.
Similarly in Oluke and Demokula in Ifo Local Government Area, electoral officers were nowhere to be found as at 11:00am.
A People’s Party of Nigeria chairmanship candidate in Abeokuta North Local Government, Mr. Ife kayode Akinbode, expressed disappointment with the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission and the electoral process over the irregularities.
In Ogun Waterside, a prospective voter, Mr. Dehinde Ifarajimi, alleged that there were no elections in his Makun-Omi/Irokun Ward 9.
Our correspondent gathered that the ballot boxes designated for the election in that ward were snatched by people believed to be supporters of the ACN who allegedly took them away into the local government headquarters.
Similar ugly incidents were also said to have occurred in Isire, Ode-Omi, Abigi, Ibiade among several others.
In Ajebandele Ward, Ijebu East Local Government, a teacher was said to have snatched four booklets of ballot papers, which he thumb printed. Also, a former ACN chairmanship aspirant in Remo North was reportedly arrested and detained in Sagamu for alleged electoral offence.
In Ward 2, Ago Isaga, Yewa South, an unidentified electoral officer was caught with already prepared result sheets.
In Isara, Remo North Local Government, there was near outbreak of violence following allegations of ballot box stuffing.
In Ode Remo, sporadic gunshots were reportedly fired by unknown persons to scare away voters from the polling units.
Also, at Simawa High School, Sagamu, the ACN chairmanship candidate, Mrs. Funmi Efuwape, was said to have narrowly escaped attack by some unidentified opposition supporters following disagreements over irregularities at the polling unit.
Efuwape, who had already cast her vote before the incident, was immediately ferried away to safety by her supporters.
In Isara and many other areas, heavily armed soldiers and anti-riot policemen allegedly harassed residents and prospective voters who became scared and stayed away from the polling units.
There were reports of ballot box snatching in Ishara, Remo-North Local Government; Iworo, Ijebu North-East Local Government; Odogbolu, Odogbolu Local Government and Sagamu Local Government.
There were also protests at Unit 4, Owotanmo Ward 6 in Ijebu North-East Local Government, where the ballot box was snatched by hoodlums, shortly before the votes were counted.
Commenting on the conduct of the poll in the state, the Chairman of the Ogun PDP Caretaker Committee, Mr. Ireti Oniyide, accused Amosun and the ACN of rigging the election.
Oniyide said, “The feelers we got were that the election was a sham and for a governor that got into office with one man, one vote, to be presiding over a process like this is very unfortunate for the people of Ogun State.
“It was a blatant subversion of the democratic right of the people of Ogun. We made attempts to correct these irregularities but members of OGSIEC suddenly became incommunicado; they were not picking their phone calls or taking correspondences from us.
“Amosun needs to tell us if he is serving only ACN members; if we know that, then we know the battle we are facing. If he is governor for the people of the state, for the ACN alone.
“We do not have confidence in the election, it was a sham.”
Reacting to the allegations, Amosun accused the opposition of attempting to frustrate the efforts of OGSIEC to conduct a credible council poll.
Shortly after casting his vote with his wife, Funsho, at their Ward 11, Unit 2, African Church Central Primary School, Ita Italode, the governor, spoke with journalists and disagreed with the claim of low voter turnout.
He however, expressed satisfaction with what he described as “25 per cent” turnout of the voters for the election.
“Any election that you have 25 per cent turn-out is not too bad. If you look at our registration in this polling unit, we have about 25 per cent of those that registered.
“People said they could not find their names on the list and OGSIEC told us that it was the list given to them by the Independent National Electoral Commission, so there wasn’t much we could do about it. It is a learning process and I am sure we are going to perfect it in the subsequent elections,” Amosun said.
OGSIEC Commissioner III, Mutiu Agboke, also said the electoral body should not be blamed for the missing names on the voter register because it used the register provided by the INEC in the 2011 general elections to conduct the council poll.
He said, “The issue is not delisting but omission of names because the people said they had similar experiences during the last election but INEC corrected it.”
However, an INEC official in the state who pleaded anonymity blamed the missing names on the register on the late collection of the document by OGSIEC from the national electoral body.
The INEC official claimed that the voter register was collected by OGSIEC less than 12 hours to the Saturday council poll.
“We have to blame the OGSIEC for the irregularities. They collected the voter register used in the last general election late from INEC. If the body had come for the collection of the register early as advised, this development would not have occurred. The blame should be put at their doorstep,” he said.
