The House of Assembly election held in the 18 local government areas of Ondo state yesterday witnessed violence and apathy as some hired political thugs invaded polling booths and disrupted the accreditations process.
The general low turn of voters in the state was however, attributed to the fear of being attacked by the hoodlums who were alleged to had been sent to all the council areas by a particular political party’s chieftain to disrupt elections and intimidate people from voting for the candidates of the All Progressives Congress who had upper hands in the last Presidential and National Assembly elections held last two weeks
It was learned that a particular political party in the state who lost out in the last elections engaged the services of some political urchins, sent them to all the council areas to foment troubles, especially in the APC controlled areas.
In Ilaje local government area of the state, there was a sporadic shooting by some political hoodlums in the early hours of yesterday and the hoodlums who laid ambushed for INEC staff in Ugbo town, hijacked ballot boxes, ballot papers and other sensitive materials meant for three units in Ilaje
The INEC staff who narrowly escaped death by whiskers, ran to the bush for safety and the hoodlums went away the INEC sensitive materials
In Idanre local government area, some armed political thugs invaded polling booths and disrupted accreditations exercise after shooting sporadically to scare away people. An INEC staff who waited and resisted the thugs activity was beaten to a coma and people were driven away from polling units by the hired thugs
The situation was not different in ore, Ondo towns, Akure, Igbara Oke and Ilara-mokin where thugs were shooting sporadically before snatching ballot papers and ballot boxes
In Ore, Odigbo local government area, hoodlums took over the major streets, shooting harassing and intimidating voters and INEC staff. The thugs stormed the house of a prominent politician in the town, manhandled him and set ablaze his car, while his family members took to their heels to avoid being attacked
In Akure metropolis, some hoodlums met their Waterloo as security agents who were assigned to monitor the election exercise apprehended the hoodlums at FUTA area with some dangerous weapons while they were disrupting the accreditations exercise
Some areas in Ondo South and Central Senatorial districts, political thugs after forcefully taking over the polling booths, compelling voters to vote for their candidates and forced them to take N1000 as compensations
Security agents in the affected areas could not help the situation as a result of the superior fire power of the political thugs.In Ala ward, In Idanre which consist of three units,and other wards in Idanre town thugs sacked INEC staff took over the polling units while security agents who were in the areas ignored the complains of the electorate
Also, in Akoko, Owo and Ose areas of the state, the turnout was impressive compared with other towns and cities in state. Little violence was recorded in these areas compared with that of Idanre, Okitipupa, Akure, Ore, Odeaye and other towns where thugs had free day
In Ilaramokin area of Ifedore local government, some police men were used by politicians in the area to engage in election malpractices as they were sighted sharing money with voters after voting for a particular candidate.
As at the time of filling in this report, voting as commenced in some areas of the state except in Ondo East and Okitipupa local government areas of the state. The delay in the Okitipupa area was attributed to the mix up in the electoral materials while that of Ondo East was as a result of the activities of political thugs who embarked on endless sporadic shootings in the area, the development forced people and INEC staff to flee the area.
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