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Following allegations of major electoral misbehaviour, rigging, and even the use of a deceased person’s voter card, the just concluded Local Government election in Lagos State has provoked reactions.
At the News Central’s Inside Lagos Dialogue on post-election outcomes in Lagos, different political party chairmen, candidates, and party employees have said they were unhappy about what they called a “disgrace to democracy.”
Lawal Rasaq, an Accord Party agent in Ifelodun Local Council Development Area (LCDA), made one of the most surprising disclosures when he claimed that his deceased father’s Permanent Voter Card (PVC) was used in the ballot counting process. Rasaq claims that when he questioned the electoral officials about how a deceased man could have voted, he was simply informed that the person had only “stepped out,” even if his father died. Rasaq found the incident terrible and disturbing. “How can someone who is no longer alive suddenly cast a vote? He stated.
Many other candidates for councillorship and chairman in Lagos echoed related worries. Many of them argued the election was neither fair nor free, with some insisting it had no democratic worth at all.
One of the charges was the startling assertion that voters were permitted to use automated teller machines (ATM) or other cards instead of their PVCs.
Some of the applicants for chairmanship said the police officers allocated to polling locations did nothing to prevent the irregularities since they were part of the accomplice. Ojo Local Government Area’s Labour Party Chairman candidate, Magudu, said he was worried about the state of democracy in Nigeria. “We are slipping into anarchy,” he cautioned, Sheyi Ipinleye, another Labour Party chairmanship candidate, particularly blamed the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC). He said “The LA deliberately did not bring voting materials to voting centre at Amuwo-olofin.
They pointed out that even before the alleged problems happened, not many people voted.
Tessy Whyte “This last election is the worst election we ever had and people were moving from one polling unit to another”
Sheyi Ipinlaye, Chairmanship Labour Party said “The LASIEC deliberately did not bring voting materials to voting centre at Amuwo-olofin.
Opeyemi Benjamin “I was Dehumanised. The Police are accomplice with LASIEC and it is nothing to write home about.”
James Adeshina “The LASIEC body for me are like another political party, because for me they acted that way. It’s a shame in this age we are conducting such an election with a lot of irregularities. The political empathy was also very high. For me there was no election.”
Awolaja Olarenwaju “One of the polling units were turned into carnival. There were like 15 tricycles moving around and threatening people not to come out if they won’t vote for APC.”
Olumayowa Magudu “We are sliding into Anarchy.”
Adebayo Daniel, African Action Congress (AAC) candidate “people were using their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) to vote”
