THERE were reported cases of vote-buying, ballot-snatching, irregularities, voter apathy and alleged intimidation across the states of the federation where various rerun and bye-elections were held on Saturday.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a total of 4,613,291 voters were expected to participate in the elections across 26 states of the federation having collected their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) before the election day.
According to a statement issued during the week by his Chief Press Secretary, Rotimi Oyekanmi, INEC chairman, Professor Yakubu Mahmood, revealed this when he led a delegation to the headquarters of the Nigerian Air Force in Abuja recently to request the NAF’s assistance to deliver election materials to three locations in the North-East, South-East and South-West where the election will be taken place.
Giving the breakdown, Mahmood had said two senators, four members of the House of Representatives and three members of state assemblies would be elected in the bye-elections to replace members who passed on or resigned their memberships of national and state assemblies in nine States, while in other states, rerun elections would take place at designated constituencies or Polling Units as ordered by the Election Appeal Tribunals.
“The elections will fill vacancies in three Senatorial Districts, 17 Federal and 28 State Constituencies spread across 80 local government areas, 575 Registration Areas/Wards and 8,934 Polling Units involving 4,904,627 registered voters, out of which 4,613,291 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) have been collected,” Yakubu said.
But Sunday Tribune gathered that while various incidents of alleged intimidation and irregularities marred the polls in some states, there was voter apathy in some other states where the elections took place.
As a result, INEC suspended the elections in certain federal constituencies across the country, premising its action on disruptions, irregularities and abduction of election officials.
The affected constituencies include Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency, Akwa Ibom State, Enugu South 1 State Constituency and Kunchi/Tsanyawa State Constituency, Kano State.
According to a statement signed by Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner & Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee and made available to journalists in Abuja, all election materials were carted away by hoodlums in two Polling Units (Village Hall, EdemUrua 003 in Ini LGA and Village Hall Mbiabong Ikot Udo 003 in Ikono LGA), Akwa Ibom State.
In Enugu South 1 State Constituency, the election was suspended in eight Polling Units as original results sheets were not available for inspection by voters before the commencement of the polls.
In Kunchi/Tsanyawa State Constituency, Kano State, the exercise was halted by the electoral umpire “in all ten Polling Units in Kunchi LGA due to invasion, vandalisation, and disruption by thugs.”
The INEC National Commissioner maintained that all the incidents were clear infractions and breaches of provisions of the Electoral Act.
“The decision of the Commission aligns with the provisions of Section 24(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022. Further necessary measures for the affected constituencies will be announced after the commission’s meeting on Monday.
“INEC invites the security agencies to investigate the incidents, while the Commission commits to thoroughly interrogating any breaches involving its officials.”
INEC officials held hostage in Plateau
Meanwhile, the Plateau North Senatorial and House of Representatives elections were marred by shortage of sensitive materials and disenfranchisement in many polling units across the six local government areas designated for the election on Saturday.
This is just as INEC officials were held hostage by voters at Rock Haven in the Jos North Local Government Area of the state.
Going around some of the polling units in the affected local governments, Sunday Tribune gathered that there were quite a lot of polling units where the election did not take place as a result of either a shortage of materials or no materials at all.
In Jos North LGA, places like Kabong, Rock Haven, Utah, and parts of Tundun Wada were either starved with materials or completely disenfranchised. Also in parts of Ray Field, Jos South Council, there was voter apathy as eligible voters did not come out to exercise their civic responsibility.
At Rock Haven Polling Unit 005, where 1,723 people were expected to vote, there was a protest by the electorate over shortage of electoral materials, while voters insisted that there would be no voting unless all the necessary voting materials were supplied.
As of the time of filing out this report (5:27 pm), no material had arrived, while the electorate insisted that INEC officials, including a corps member, would not leave until the materials were provided to enable them to vote accordingly.
The polling officer, Juliet Nyanga, who is a NYSC member, told newsmen that the ballot papers for the Senate were complete, while those for the House of Representatives were just far below the required number of people on the voter list.
Speaking with newsmen at the Kabong polling unit, the State Commissioner for Land and Survey, Peter Yamgay, said what transpired at the pulling unit and other places depicted that INEC had compromised the process because it was discovered that in some places ballot papers for the Senate were brought and there were no materials for the House of Representatives.
“Apart from this, there were polling units where INEC officials did not come at all like PU 092, we did not see any one. INEC must come clean and ensure that correct things are done, and for us in Tundun Wada and Kabong, this election is highly compromised,” Yamgay alleged.
Vote-buying dominates rerun in Sokoto
In Sokoto, there was an impressive turnout of voters in most of the polling units visited by Sunday Tribune, including Yabo Local Government Area of the state, even though there was excessive vote buying in most of the polling units visited in the state.
It will be recalled that the Court of Appeal in a recent ruling had ordered the rerun in one Federal Constituency of Yabo/Shagari Federal House of Representatives and two state assemblies of Bodinga North as well as Tambuwal West respectively.
But investigation revealed that the two leading political parties in the state, All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) paid each voter between N20,000 and N35,000 as the election was held on Saturday.
One of the voters, Abubakar Ibrahim, who spoke with Sunday Tribune, said he was offered sum of N20,000 naira by an agent, while another agent offered him a sum of N30,000.
“I was offered sum of N20,000 by one party agent, while another person promised me N10,000 before I voted and to receive additional N20,000 after voting making sum of N30,000. I am still taking my time to know who to vote for depending on how much they can offer me.”
Also at Gidan Masha in Lambara ward of Shagari Local Government Area of the state, massive vote buying occurred with each voter being offered between N25,000 and N35,000 depending on their bargaining power.
Another voter confirmed that apart from the cash gifts, some party agents even offered water pumping machine to voters in exchange for their votes.
“Some of our people were given a water pumping machine in exchange for their votes. You know this is a village and most voters here are farmers, so they in exchange for the votes also gave out water pumping machine in some of the polling units,” the voter said.
One of the voters from Tambuwal Local Government, Abubakar Aliyu, however, commended security agents for their display of professionalism during the exercise.
He said: “I love the way the security agents displayed their profession in almost all the polling units here in the state.
“Our hope is that they will do the needful till the end of the exercise so that the real winner of the election will be announced and not to disrupt the exercise,” he added.
Police arrest suspected ballot snatchers in Kano
During the poll, men of the Kano State police command arrested a group of youths armed with dangerous weapons, aiming to disrupt the elections in Kunchi Local Government Area of the state on Saturday.
While INEC canceled the poll in Tsayawa| Kunkchi constituency over snatching of election materials, the police also arrested some armed youths heading towards Kunchi/Tsanyawa Local Government Areas to instigate violence and create fear.
However, the rerun election into the Kano State House of Assembly was held peacefully in Kura Local Government Area, as voters freely cast their votes, amid a heavy presence of security personnel.
Halima Abdullahi, an electoral officer at Kurunsumau ward of Auzinawa Polling Unit, confirmed that the BVAS machine worked well in her area.
In Garun Malam Local Government, it was observed that election materials arrived on time, and voters turned out early to cast their ballots.
Reports from Rimin Gado and Tofa constituencies indicate that the elections proceeded without any disruptions.
INEC declares APC’s candidate winner of Lagos poll
Meanwhile, INEC has declared the APC candidate, Faud Laguda the winner of the Surulere Federal Constituency 1 bye-election held on Saturday in six wards of the council area.
The Returning officer of the election, Professor Ladipo Adebayo of the University of Lagos announced that the APC candidate polled 11, 203 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Mr Jerry Afemighie, who came second with 278 votes and that of the Labour Party (LP), Adeola Adebanjo, who scored 240 votes.
Speaking on the conduct of the poll, the state Residents Electoral Commissioner, Professor Ayobami Salami, said the poll was conducted peacefully.
However, a low turnout of voters was recorded in several of the polling units, while there were few restrictions on vehicular movement in the constituency.
In Ward 8, polling unit 032 in Adelabu Street, voting commenced at about 8:25 am, while about eight people voted at about 9:30 am.
Agents of the three major political parties were seen in the polling units expressing satisfaction with the conduct of the election.
Large turnout of voters in Ondo
For the Ondo rerun election held to fill the vacant House of Representatives seat for the Akoko North East/ South East federal constituency, there was a large turnout of voters in the two local government areas where the elections were held yesterday.
Voting commenced early in most of the polling units as the exercise began at about 8:30 a.m., while accreditation and voting were going on simultaneously.
At the voting unit of the APC candidate, Ife Ehindero, in unit 2, Oyin/Oge Ward 4, accreditation and voting also commenced early, with a large number of voters waiting to be accredited to cast their votes.
While speaking, one of the voters, Adelani Ajose, said the election was peaceful in the polling unit and said: “You can see the large turnout of voters, this is because voters were adequately sensitised ahead of the rerun election,”
Speaking with newsmen after casting his vote, Ehindero said reports from the field indicated that the election was peaceful with a large turnout of voters.
While commending INEC and the security agencies, he said: “The security agencies have been of good conduct so far. At my polling unit, security men have been professional and they haven’t been any reports of security breaches across the wards.
“The voting materials arrived on time. The INEC officials arrived on time and I believe same thing has been happening across the polling units. Personally, I feel INEC was well prepared for this election,” he added.
Also, in Ikare- Akoko, the PDP candidate, Lekan Bada, described the election as peaceful, hailing the security arrangements.
He said, “Where I voted in Ward 01, Unit 12 in Ikare-Akoko is very peaceful. I voted around 10:00 a.m., and voting had been going on smoothly. The security arrangement was perfect.”
He, however, expressed optimism about winning the election, saying the voters from the two local governments will vote for the party, and said, “Due to the rotational agreement, it is the turn of Akoko North-East. If it goes to the North-West, it will take 11 years to come back to the North-East. So, I have the advantage.”
