Lagos: Violence mars guber election as thugs invade polling stations

Armed thugs have been going around polling units today to threaten, harass and in some cases, physically attack the non-indigenes who are not ready to vote for the ruling party in the state, the All Progressives Congress, APC.

“If you no fit vote APC, do not come outside too. This one no be like last time oo,” the thugs warned.

In Ojodu part of Lagos, thugs were sighted moving inside three coaster buses wearing masks. They went from one polling unit to another, driving away intending voters they considered not supporters of APC.

A lady in tears who chose to remain anonymous for security reasons, narrated how she was pounced on by the thugs in her polling unit, preventing her from casting her vote for her preferred candidate.

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At another polling unit in the same area, another intending voter was slapped by thugs and driven away because they suspected he was not an APC supporter.

“This is not fair, I am a full-fledged Yoruba man but those thugs hit me on the head just because I tried to stop them from attacking an Igbo lady who had lined up to cast her vote. Look at my head (he pointed at the wound). Is this an election? People should feel free to vote for their preferred candidates. But with a situation like this, we are no longer in democracy,” a voter lamented

According to a source, in the Alimosho area which accounts for the largest number of potential voters in Lagos State, thugs were moving from house to house, warning people who were not ready to vote for APC not to venture out of their homes.

In the highbrow Victoria Garden City (VGC), INEC officials were said to have moved all the polling units outside the estate, unlike the usual practice whereby voting was carried out within the estate.

When asked for explanations for moving out the polling units, an INEC official simply said, “It’s an order from the Local Government Council”.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Idowu Owohunwa, also ordered the Cybercrimes Unit of the Command to commence immediate and comprehensive investigation into the incident.