Late Arrival Of Voting Materials Mars LG Elections In Ogun

Residents of Ogun State, on Saturday, trooped out to the polling centres to elect the chairmen and councillors of the
State’s 20 local government area as well as 236 Wards, respectively.

This is just as late arrival of election materials has marred the exercise, which is holding amidst heavy presence of security operatives across the state.

LEADERSHIP Correspondent, who monitored the situations, also observed that in some polling units across some Wards in Sagamu and Ikenne local government areas, respectively, voters arrived early at their various polling units, but waited for election materials and officials of the State’s Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) for the exercise to commence.

The election, which was initially scheduled to commence between 8am and 2pm, did not start until 10:30am because of the late arrival of OGSIEC officials to their respective duty posts.

LEADERSHIP further observed that electoral materials arrived at exactly 10:30am at Ward 3, Polling Unit 2, Ita Osanyin, in Iperu town of Ikene local government area where the state governor cast his vote at exactly 1:24am, while voting commenced by 10:30am at Polling Unit 3, Ward 3, Iregun in the same Iperu township.

Meanwhile, other polling units monitored in major cities like Abeokuta, the state capital; Ijebu Ode; Sagamu; Ota and Ilaro indicated that election materials arrived on schedule, even as voters expressed confidence that the exercise would be concluded without any hitch.

As at the time of filing this report, incident of voter harassment or ballot box snatching have not been recorded in the voting exercise which has major political parties, including the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) participating.

Speaking with journalists after casting his vote at the Polling Unit 2, in Ita Osanyin, Iperu town, the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, commended the security operatives for their dedication to duty, particularly towards ensuring the peaceful conduct of the polls.