Residents of Okota area of Lagos State will not forget last Saturday
elections in a hurry.
The day, which started as decision making day, ended up as a
bloody one, with voters scampering for safety like there was war and they
shielding themselves from flying missiles.
Trouble started when some political thus on motorcycles, rode into
different polling units, threatened voters voting against All Progressives
Congress (APC). Voters were alleged to have been beaten, slapped and
threatened.
The thugs were said to have become incensed and lashed out at the voters
after they discovered that most of the voters were casting in favour of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP).
Before nightfall, one of the thugs, later identified simply as
Demola, had tasted the determination, will and wrath of the voters. He was
attacked and heavy stones hurled on his head.
That he survived was nothing short of a miracle. He was said to
have been rushed to hospital by policemen. According to voters, who were at the
polling units in the area, Demola led some thugs to disrupt the voting process,
burning ballot papers and boxes.
While this mayhem was going on, no policemen or soldiers were
sighted. One correspondent on Tuesday went to the communities to find out what
really transpired from some of the voters.
The atmosphere at Okota community was tense following rumours that
there might be another attack on the communities. People stared at strangers with
suspicion eyes.
According to the residents, during the Saturday Presidential and
National Assembly elections, thugs led by Demola, who is alleged to be a unit
chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the area,
attacked the voters.
Mr. Peter Idah, who was at polling unit 020, along Ohafia/Okota
Palace way, when the political thugs invaded, said that the thugs burnt election
materials and turned the peaceful process into a nightmare.
His words: “We never expected that there would be problem on that
day. We were all busy, casting our votes, when everything became violent. These
political thugs led by Demola, came to the place to disturb the election
process. Some voters said Demola had earlier visited the unit. He left and went
to the next polling unit located at the end of the street. He came to our unit
and then left. When he returned again, he was with a group of thugs. They went
straight to the table where ballot boxes were and carried them. They scattered
the ballot papers boxes and on the ground before setting them on fire.”
Idah continued: “When they came, everyone made way for them.
Nobody knew then that they came to disrupt the election process. It was
unimaginable. These thugs caused panic, forcing many voters to take to their
heels. Some of
the young men didn’t run far from the place; they stood afar off, watching what
the thugs were doing. After the thus destroyed everything at our polling unit,
they went to the next, at the end of the street. When they left there, they
went to the opposite street, Baba Ewe, where there was another polling unit and
did the same thing.”
He recalled that after watching the drama of the political thugs
for a while, the voters became angry, asking what the thugs thought they were
doing. He said that the voters mobilized, gathered courage and went after the
thugs.
He said: “The voters pursued them. It was only Demola they were
able to lay hands on. He was almost lynched by the angry mob, but he was
rescued by the police. When the thugs stormed our polling units, only two
policemen were stationed there. They were not armed. They probably, like us,
expected the elections to be peaceful, which was why they didn’t come the
polling unit with guns.”
Another resident, Steven, lamented that the elections were
peaceful until the thugs invaded the polling units.
He said: “I strongly believe that someone was planted in those
polling units to monitor the voting process and know the party that was
leading. The thugs came to those polling units based on information. When they
realized that the voting was not swinging in their direction, they decided to
disrupt it.
“As the exercise was going on, some of the voters were finding it difficult
to fold the ballot papers because of its length. They also struggled to put them
into the boxes. Everyone was able to see who another person voted for. Again,
most of the people, who were at the polling units, were non-indigenes. They had
a right to vote for whosoever they wanted. This development is trying to create
bad impression among residents who had been living in peace in these
communities for many years. The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), must reschedule
the elections because our votes must be counted. We will not accept intimidation
from any group. Some of the residents voted
for the ruling party. Most of the people I spoke with, believed that Nigerians
should give the sitting president a second chance.”
A private security officer in Okota, Mr. James, said: “The
thugs aim was to scare the people. The plan was to make them too scared to come
out to exercise their fundamental civil rights. What happened on that Election
Day was part of the intimidation that had been going on. People are being
harassed on daily basis for being non-indigenes. It is just that this one is
election problem. If not, nobody would have done anything. I wish the military
and police deployed to this place, could stay longer, even after the elections.
We heard that some of the thugs had been threatening to carry out a reprisal on
the communities. We thank God that their
leader didn’t die as earlier feared. When we heard that Demola was dead, we
were all scared. His colleagues may use that as an excuse to attack residents
and start destroying property.”
Madam Tina said that as she was heading to her
polling unit when she saw to people running. Without waiting to find out what
was happening, she also took to her heels.
She later heard that some thugs stormed polling
units to burn ballot papers and boxes. She was also told that the mayhem was
because some people, perceived to be Igbos, voted against APC.
Tina said: “When did it become a crime to vote for
the party you like? I voted for APC during the 2015 elections, but it brought
hardship. A lot of people are suffering under this government. You don’t expect
Nigerians to still vote for a leader that brought hardship to the land.”
Chief
Ben, who voted at Unit 017, Fasehun Street, said: “Some of the thugs told me
that in 2015, APC lost the place because Fasehun supported non-indigenes to
vote against the ruling party. Some of the thugs I met on the way to the
polling unit as I was telling people I know that they should vote for their choice,
threatened that if the residents refused to vote for APC, nobody would be
allowed to vote. I challenged them, that they should not say so. One of them
insulted and threatened to slap me. I believe those boys were acting out a
script given to them by their paymasters. Nobody can intimidate me in this
Lagos State. I’m a Nigerian.”
Reacting to the matter, the national coordinator of the Network on
Police Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN), Okechukwu Nwanguma said: “We always focus
on political thugs without asking questions about or going after the sponsors
of thuggery and electoral violence.”
Nwanguma added: “Having identified the thugs who invaded polling
stations in Okota Lagos, chased away voters and INEC officials and burnt
electoral materials, INEC and security agents have a duty to also arrest their
sponsors and prosecute them. Residents of the area in Okota have identified the
sponsor of the violence as a woman whose name they gave as Mrs Olowoyo. She is the leader who mobilised all these
thugs.”
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu, said that
some arrests had been made. He disclosed that aside from Okota, arrests were
also made at Shomolu. He added that Okota and Shomolu areas of Lagos had the
largest number of arrest, with nine suspects, each.
Muazu, who described the exercise generally as peaceful,
said measures had been put in place to forestall any repeat of such incident in
the governorship election.
His words: “The election in almost every part of Lagos was
calm. However, there were disruptions in some area. The important was at Okota,
where polling units were attacked. Some hoodlums went there when the elections
were ongoing and disrupted the process. However, no life was lost in the
violence. We heard the falsehood that people were killed but we went there and
did not see any corpse. The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Palace Way Police Station
did not see anyone that was killed. In Okota, nine suspects were arrested. They
came on motorcycles and 10 of these were recovered. Okota is a very large area
and we cannot deploy armed policemen to polling units. The armed policemen were
far off. That was why the hoodlums were able to strike and fled before armed
policemen could get there. It is indeed a breach of the restriction order. I
wonder where they came from but the case is under investigation and we will
find out where they came from.”
Our correspondent gathered that the DPO
of the Ago Palace Way Police Divisional Headquarters, a Chief Superintendent of
Police (CSP) Oyin Frances Adamu, and the station’s Divisional Crime Officer
(DCO), a Superintendent of Police (SP) Oladimeji Olatunji, were queried over
their alleged failure to prevent the violence that erupted in Okota during the
elections last Saturday.
Adamu and Olatunji were given 24
hours to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against them for
failing to protect officials INEC and electoral materials.
It was also learnt that aside from
failing to handle the security situation, the two police officers allegedly
attempted to divert the attention of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police
(AIG), Zone 2, David Folawiyo, and Muazu, from doing an on-the-spot
assessment of the extent of damage in the area. Muazu ordered the Area Commander, Olasoji
Akinbayo, to issue the two officers queries for allowing hoodlums to wreak
havoc in the area.
No comments:
Post a Comment