By Akinwale Kasali
Inspite of the assurances by the Police of security during the Governorship and State House of Assembly Election, violence and snatching of ballot boxes reigned in some parts of Lagos State.
In other parts of the State where it was relatively peaceful, the exercise was marred by low turnout of voters.
In the Okota area of Lagos, thugs, in their scores, invaded polling units attacking Voters, tearing ballot papers already filled by voters, and snatching ballot boxes. A good number of the voters were inflicted with injuries. The same was the case in some other polling units across Lagos.
In the Oshodi area, thugs held sway, and chased away non-Yoruba voters.
Those who expected a high turnout of voters were disappointed as the opposite was the case.
Alimosho Local Government Area which is the most populous LGA in the State, witnessed a massive low turnout. Despite officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, arriving their Polling Units earlier than expected, the Polling Units were scanty with INEC official sitting idle following the low turnout.
In Ward 001 in Abule Oki Primary School, Alimosho Local Government Area that has over Seven Polling Units there was no long queue compared to the February 25th Presidential election.
Same scenario happened in Oke-Odo, Pleasure, Agbelekale, Ekoro Areas under Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area in Alimosho Local Government.
In a chat with some of the officials of INEC why people were not coming out to cast their votes, they said they were surprised with the situation.
It, however, took the intervention of Party Agents in some of the said areas who had to do House To House Campaign to mobilize and convince people to come out to vote.
At Aboru, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Agents provided a Big Bus to convey some of the voters whose Polling Unit is at Iyana Ipaja, Abule Egba and Meiran environ to enable them cast their votes.
The same situation happened in some part of Ikeja. At Anifowoshe Street in Ikeja close to the popular Computer Village, the turnout was low.
Some of the electorates said the low turnout was a reflection of the threat by the Chairman of Lagos State Parks and Garden, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo who threatened that anyone that votes for another Party other than APC would be attacked, advising them to stay in their houses if they are not ready to vote for the ruling Party in the State.
Though after series of criticism, he debunked the threat as mere joke, as the Lagos State Police Command has said that it is already investigating him and on top of the matter.
In Agege, there was also low turnout in some areas, but the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, expressed optimism that his party, the APC would win the ongoing governorship and House of Assembly election in the State.
Obasa spoke with journalists after casting his vote at Unit 019, Ward E, Oluwole Olaniyan Street, Agege, saying he believes that Allah would crown the efforts of the APC with success.
“APC will be declared winner in both the governorship and House of Assembly elections. We are certain of victory. We voted for and won the presidential election. So we strongly believe in Almighty Allah and we know He will crown our efforts with success,” he said.
He described the security deployment for the exercise as very impressive.
“I can see a lot of them around and I think it is very good. It’s very impressive and I hope it will be sustained till the end of the exercise,” Obasa said as he expressed hope that more voters would turn out before the end of the exercise.
“We are still very hopeful that many of our people would come out before the end of the exercise.
“Majority of those we have here are youth. So we can confirm that the youth have turned up. But we are not particular about demography. We are talking about everyone qualified to vote.
Asked what the youth should expect from him going forward, the Speaker said: “We have been working together with the youth and there is a strong collaboration. They have access to us and we are always open. We have always worked together and we will continue to attend to their requests.”
In Oshodi/Isolo Area of the State, some of the electorates who claimed anonymity said that the voters apathy experienced is because a lot of people are afraid after MC Oluomo’s threat.
Those who spoke to the magazine said they were afraid for their lives after Oluomo and others working for the ruling party threatened to deal with those opposed to the APC.
“We are being intimidated by these none state actors who have taken over the state. We had expected the state government to protect the peoples, but apparently, this is not happening, so the best thing to do is to stay back at home to stay alive,” a resident in Ikeja said.
“I voted at the Moshood Abiola crescent during the presidential election. Though voter turnout at the time was not very high, today is even worse due to the security scare among residents that they will be attacked. During the election three weeks ago, barely 300 of us cast our votes even though there are close to 1000 registered voters in that polling unit. Today is even worse,” an electorate said.
