Oyo LG Polls: Elections Marred by Irregularities, Violence, Overvoting, Others—Awa Bamiji
Oyo LG Election Marred with Late Announcement of Names of OYSIEC Adhoc Staff, Irregularities, Late Arrival of Voting Materials, Shortage of Voting Materials, Low Turnout, Violence, Overvoting—Awa Bamiji.
How can you broadcast the names of the successful applicants for OYSIEC work as your ad hoc staff less than 24 hours before the local government election and expect total readiness and efficacy?
I left home at 06:20am and arrived at Olomi at 06:40am in our family house, which means I spent only 20 minutes driving without any hindrance. There’s no single police or army barricade on the major roads within the town, including Lagos/Ibadan Express Way, unlike during the Presidential/National Assembly (NASS) and Gubernatorial/State Assembly Elections, which were organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
When I got to my polling unit at Olomi Community Primary School I, Unit 3, at 9:00 a.m. to cast my vote, I expected to notice a low turnout of voters. The number was still impressive anyway, but all of us were totally disappointed, including 2 policemen and 2 FRSC officers, because voting materials arrived at 11 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. I voted at 11:30am and came back home at 12pm in Iyana Church, simply because I heard it live on Splash FM that one of their election observers said he just got back with his private vehicle without seeing any police barricades on the major roads.
In fact, BCOS 7 p.m. and 08:30 p.m. news reported that people were going around in Oluyole Local Government, Idi-Ayunre, with total disregard for the state restriction order. I could also listen to a guy during this 08:30 p.m. news, complaining over voting that was higher than the number of available ballot papers in his unit and even higher than the number of votes recorded in the 2023 general elections, after today’s counting of votes.
Policemen and soldiers were not sighted on my way back through the Iwo-Road interchange, unlike during the presidential and gubernatorial elections. People without private vehicles were stranded on the roads and trekking, even with their kindergarten children.
I noticed a road block on the way down the Samwill Bridge and could see some policemen standing on the old Ife Road towards Gbagi Market.
Businesses along the major roads were close throughout.
A case of violence that broke out in one of the units in Ona-Ara Local Government was reported to me by a neighbour, but in my own assessment, the election was relatively peaceful in the face of noticeable disenfranchisement.
Imagine a unit in Ibadan South East Local Government, as reported live by Agidigbo FM, where OYSIEC made only 100 copies of voting materials available for the registered 750 voters. A similar case of making only 100 copies of voting materials available in another unit somewhere else was reported by Splash FM, which means there could be widespread availability of 100 voting materials, which was disheartening.
Our dear brother, Alhaji Oriyomi Hamzat, personally noticed a situation in a video where an OYSIEC female staffer was handling over APC ballot papers to the same guy collecting the PDP ballot papers from her during vote counting in one unit at Onipasan, Ibadan Southeast Local Government, and he had to replay the video for authenticity, and it was the same scenario. He reacted, “Onipasan, e ma je ki a fun yin ni pasan o,” before he later said someone just called his attention to it, saying that it could be a delay in sound that made it look like that.
In an ideal situation where there’s no widespread irregularity, this situation ought to be thoroughly investigated.
Comrade Awa Bamiji
National Coordinator Coaliton of Pro-Democracy Groups for A Better Nigeria
Saturday, 27/04/24.
