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- Fracas as party agents discover ballot papers in bus
…Police arrest fake party agents
By Chinelo Obogo
A national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has refuted allegations that his party imposed candidates for the local government elections.
He said this yesterday after casting his vote at Unit 026, Ward F, Alausa, Ikeja.
By the time he cast his vote, less than 50 people, out of a registered voter population of over 1,000, had voted as at noon.
Insisting that the APC conducted free and fair local government primary, Tinubu while adressing journalists after voting, said claims of imposition of candidates in his party was untrue because everyone was carried along and the decision was unanimous. He also said the crisis in the party was a result of its popularity in the state.
His words: “We have 57 local government areas in Lagos. For every chairmanship position there are 13 candidates; for every councillorship position, there are 18 candidates. And you can only have one person for each of those positions.
“Conflict resolution is the hallmark of democracy, we just have to find a way to resolve all the issues.”
Meanwhile, there was crisis at Agege Local Government Secretariat, yesterday, when agents of some opposition parties discovered ballot papers in one of the seven commercial buses in front of the secretariat.
Onlookers said that as soon as some party agents discovered the ballot papers, two occupants of the bus ran away.
The opposition party agents accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of intending to use the ballot papers to rig the election.
The Lagos State Police Command also confirmed that it arrested five fake party agents. The suspects were apprehended by policemen attached to the Area ‘F ‘ command.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, confirmed the arrest but did not state where the arrest was made and the identities of the suspects.
Meanwhile, security agencies deployed over 10,000 operatives to strategic locations in different parts of Lagos to ensure peaceful local government elections.
Despite the logistics arrangements made for the smooth conduct of the local government poll, the early morning rains delayed the take ofF the polling in most parts of the state The local government election was the first to be held in five years. The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) deployed manual voting for the election.
There was low turnout at many polling units in Isolo while accreditation started late in Ikorodu/Ketu because LASIEC officials were waiting for voting materials.
Similarly, there was low turnout at Polling Unit 12 A, Lekki Scheme 1 and at Iru Victoria Island LCDA Polling Unit 18 and 18A.
