Voter Apathy, Malfunctioned BVAS, Violence Mar Ogun By-election

Voter apathy as well as malfunctioned Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) affected the conduct of the House of Representatives by-election for the Ikenne, Remo North and Sagamu Federal Constituency of Ogun State on Saturday.

This came on the heels of mid-day’s sporadic gunshots and ballot boxes snatching that also greeted the exercise in Iperu Remo, the home town of the incumbent governor of the state, Prince Dapo Abiodun.

At the Igan/Ajina Polling Unit 16, ward 2 in Remo North Local Government, there were 445 registered voters at the centre but as of 11am when LEADERSHIP visited, only 64 voters had turned up and were accredited to vote, while the BVAS machine also encountered challenges of identifying elderly voters.

One of such elderly voters was a 70-years, Sobanke Fasasi who lamented his inability to vote for the candidate of his choice due to the failure of the BVAS machine to recognise him.

Pa Fasasi failed to vote despite repeated trials at the Wesley School Isara 2, Polling Unit 006 and Polling Unit 005 in MoborodeOke – Ola area of Remo North LGA where voters turnout was also poor.

This was attested to by an ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), female Corps member telling journalists that the BVAS was failing to recognise elderly voters even after several trials.

Low voter turnout was also recorded at the Ajegunle Ward 6, Polling Unit 1 in Ogere, Ikenne local government area, as well as Polling Unit 005, Town Planning in Ilisan 1 where 953 was recorded as registered voters but 98 voters were accredited for the by-election scheduled to end at 2: 30pm.

Meanwhile, at the Wesley Nursery & Primary School in Iperu, Polling Unit 04 and Polling Unit 05, in Iperu 3 Area of Ikenne local government area where the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu usually cast his vote, only 123, out of the 750 registered voters were accredited as at 12:03pm when LEADERSHIP visited.

Meanwhile, the by-election, which commenced peaceful in the morning assumed a dangerous dimension mid-afternoon when armed hoodlums, suspected to be political thugs stormed the Wesley Nursery & Primary School in Iperu Remo and started shooting sporadically into the air.

The thugs, numbering about six, masked in hoods and rode on two motorcycles popularly called “okada’ and started shooting their dane guns, thereby forcing accredited voters on the queue and journalists to scamper for safety, while they had a free day carting away the ballot boxes.

Also earlier in the day, the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Ogunlowo denied knowledge of the arrest of a PDP chieftain, who was allegedly caught with an undisclosed sum of money at an hotel in Iperu-Remo.

When contacted, CP Ogunlowo said the Command was investigating the purported arrest.

An unverified viral video had claimed that Chairman of the PDP in the state, Abayomi Tella, and two INEC staff – Toryem Joe-Stans and Mandara Amina Mamman were arrested in connection with a huge amount of money suspected to be for vote buying in the ongoing Remo Federal constituency by-election.

The CP said, “We are investigating the matter, that’s how much I can say for now, you may please call back later in the day for further information”.