Violence, ballot hijack reign

news update

Violence, Ballot Hijack Reign

Sunday April ,26,2009

From Bayo Ohu, Ifedayo Sayo, Niyi Bello, Abiodun Fanoro and Mohammed Abubakar, Ado-Ekiti --The Guardian

.Senator Macheted, Hospitalised

.Thugs Harassed Journalists; Poll Observers Arrested

.Police Arrest 25 Persons

.Election Shifted Today In Oye-Ekiti

.Heavy Security Presence In Ado-Ekiti

AN all-night shooting by suspected political thugs heralded the re-run governorship election in parts of Ekiti State yesterday. The election was scheduled to hold in 63 wards scattered in 10 local government councils of the state.

Particularly affected by the violent clashes was Oye-Ekiti, where returns were expected to be as high as 18,000 in the two wards slated for balloting.

In one of those clashes, a chieftain of the Action Congress (AC), Senator Lawrence Agunbiade, was macheted and had to be admitted at the hospital. A local council chairman allegedly led the attack on him.

Eyewitness said supporters of the two main political parties - the AC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) - were at each other's throat, leading to a complete breakdown of law and order, forcing the electoral personnel posted to the community to be massed at the INEC local office.

Consequently, voting in the area had to be postponed till today (Sunday) even as reports of ballot snatching characterised the election in such places as Usi-Ekiti, Ijero, Ipoti-Ekiti, Igbemo-Ekiti, Odo-Ayedun, Igede-Ekiti and Iloro allegedly spearheaded by some party chieftains in a desperate bid to rig the voting.

A PDP chieftain, Senator Ayo Arise alleged that thugs were brought to the Oye community by the opposition, saying hoodlums harassed and intimidated innocent citizens in the community.

But a youth leader and member of the AC, Mr. Tope Longe, blamed the clash on some PDP men, whom he alleged brought some thugs that attacked AC members and injured majority of the party agents.

He explained that the election could not take place because many of the AC agents were already hospitalised, adding that the security situation did not favour holding any election in the community yesterday.

A National Commissioner with INEC, Mr. Stephen Mayah Dogo, confirmed the postponement of the election in Oye.

Already, more security agents were deployed to the community yesterday, to prevent further clashes in the tension-gripped community.

Some journalists, who had attempted to interview the residents, were chased out of the community by angry mobs that gathered at different places in the locality.

Despite the pockets of violence, the election was relatively peaceful with impressive turnout of voters at some polling centres.

In Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government, the election did not start on time due to the late arrival of materials and personnel.

At about 9am in Igede-Ekiti, headquarters of the council, some of the presiding officers said they could not locate the polling units, where they would conduct the election. They had to wait at the palace of the Onigede of Igede, to get someone to take them to their places of assignments.

There were reports of ballot snatching in the area, which informed the arrest of two persons, who were later brought to the Police Command headquarters in Ado-Ekiti.

Also, at Igbemo-Ekiti, there were reports of harassment of observers deployed to the community for the election. As early as 8am, the observers were reportedly beaten and chased out of the community by a notable party chieftain.

The said party top notch was also alleged to have led suspected thugs that snatched ballot boxes. But mobile policemen deployed to the community gave a chase and retrieved the ballot boxes from the thugs.

However, another batch of poll watchers including Dr. Abubakar Momoh, an associate professor of political science at the Lagos State University and six others were mobbed by some political thugs and arrested by the police.

The observers, who suffered severe injuries as a result of the attacks, include Ms. Bimbo Adewumi, Dr. Azeez Olaniyi, Wahab Oyedokun, all of the Civil Society Monitoring Group, and Babatunde Awodehinde, Olusoga Olusegun and Foudad Oki of the Campaign for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR).

They were attacked in Ifaki-Ekiti on their way to the state capital. All seven, who were in need of urgent medical attention as at press time, were still held by the police.

Nonetheless, election went on peacefully in the community, as policemen provided security for electoral personnel.

It was gathered that the electoral officer in charge of the ward cancelled the election in one of the units, where ballot boxes were snatched at gunpoint.

In Aree, Iropora, Iworoko and Awo, there were reports of late arrival of election materials. But election in these areas was peaceful with a large turnout of voters.

Election in Osi, Usi, Ayetoro, Ido, Ilogbo, Orin and Ugbole in Ido/Osi was generally peaceful in all the wards.

But there were reports in the afternoon of ballot snatching in Usi-Ekiti, the hometown of former minister, Prof. Babalola Borishade.

The ballot boxes were allegedly taken to private homes, where they were stuffed with ballot papers.

At Ifaki-Ekiti, the hometown of the PDP candidate, Mr. Segun Oni, there was massive turnout of voters. In almost all the polling units, only the PDP had party agents, as other parties were not represented.

Oni, who cast his vote at about 9.50am in Ilogbe unit 6 polling booth, said he was happy about the attendance and the preparedness of INEC that conducted the polls.

Dressed in a white-coloured lace material and his usual (Awo) cap, the former governor, who was surrounded by a crowd of supporters, arrived at the polling unit, located near his father's house, at the centre of the town, waving victory sign.

Although he expressed optimism that his party would win the election, he also stated his readiness to congratulate his rival, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, "in the unlikely event that the AC candidate won."

However, as peaceful as the exercise was in Oni's town, several bands of youths took over the metropolis harassing innocent citizens particularly journalists and independent observers.

The duo of Messrs. Bayo Ohu and Niyi Bello of The Guardian were chased by a band of wild-looking hoodlums, who accused them of having been sent from Lagos by a former governor "to write nonsense about us."

Operating in a bus loaded with weapons and ammunition, the youths chased the reporters, who were driving in a small Nissan Sunny car, at full speed to the town's police station, where they had to run for refuge.

It took the pleadings of a lone policeman on duty and some passers-by, to appease the youths that insisted that the journalists be dealt with for "interfering in the internal politics of Ekiti State."

A team of reporters from the Ondo State Radio-Vision Corporation (OSRC), led by one Sola Obagbemisoye, went through the same ordeal in the hands of the hoodlums, who gave them a hot chase out of town.

In Imesi-Ekiti in Gbonyin local government area, a PDP chieftain alleged the discovery of an ammunition depot, where assorted arms were packed in cartons.

The police were alerted and a group of youths, which claimed to have come from Warri in Delta State to work for a particular political party, was arrested.

Also, suspected party thugs, who were said to have taken over the entire town since about 3am on Saturday, clashed with another group of suspected thugs and prevented election taking place in the town.

But the intervention of the acting governor, Mr. Olatunji Odeyemi, who visited the town at about 12.30pm, saved the situation.

Odeyemi appealed to the two warring groups to lay down their arms and urged them to go and mobilise their supporters to come out to vote for the candidate of their choice.

At Ise/Orun the election was peaceful in the 10 wards. However, Senator Agunbiade was attacked by a council boss, who led some suspected thugs to ambush him while trying to organise vehicles to take security agents to villages in the council area.

Agunbiade, who is hospitalised at the state's General Hospital, Ikere, claimed that his personal assistant, Mr. Femi Ekundayo, who was with him during the attack, was abducted at gunpoint.

He claimed that his vehicle, Toyota Sienna, was shot at several times by the hoodlums who forced him out of the vehicle before he was macheted in the head.

While the attack was going on, he said some policemen in the community watched him being dragged on the ground for a long time before rescue came to him and his assistant.

In Ijero and Ipoti-Ekiti, ballot boxes were snatched at gunpoint by suspected thugs who moved from one polling unit to the other scaring away voters. The presence of mobile policemen however brought the situation under control.

At the end of the re-run election, about 25 persons were arrested for electoral offences. The state interim Commissioner of Police, Mr. Yakubu Alkali, confirmed the arrests for different offences ranging from ballot snatching to attempts to rig the election in favour of their candidates.

Meanwhile, Ado-Ekiti, the capital of the state, wore a forlorn look yesterday, as all business and social activities were shut down even as there were reports that some residents of the town left the metropolis on the eve of election.

Although there was no election in the capital, all the streets were deserted while several convoys of policemen maintained security by searching all vehicles.