Gunmen on Saturday invaded a polling unit in Ayegbami, in the Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State, destroyed a ballot box and disrupted the electoral process in the area.
It was gathered that Ayegbami is a street in Iperu, Ikenne LGA, the hometown of the state governor, Dapo Abiodun.
An eyewitness, who refused to disclose his name to our correspondent for security reasons, said the thugs, who rode motorcycles, invaded the polling unit around 3.40 pm, snatched the ball box and destroyed it.
He said, “Ayegbami polling unit has been destroyed. The ballot box has been destroyed and the papers were scattered on the floor. I had to quickly walk away from the scene.”
A resident, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said immediately after the thugs disrupted the electoral process in the polling unit, they fled.
“Some boys came to the polling unit in Ayegbami, and destroyed the ballot box. The broken ballot box is on the road; they took all the ballot papers and fled. They were on motorcycles,” the resident said.
Our correspondent, who was monitoring the voting process at Abiodun’s polling unit at Ward 3, Polling Unit 002, Ita Osanyin, Iperu, Ikenne LGA, trekked to the scene of the attack to observe the area.
On getting to the polling unit in Ayegbami, it was desolate and ballot papers littered the street.
The broken ballot box was also sighted on the road.
Our correspondent observed that the invasion of the polling unit angered people in the area.
While some people said the attack was unwarranted, some others said it was sponsored by politicians.
The angry mob, while expressing their grievances against the attack, stormed Ward 3, Polling Unit 003, Iregun, close to the polling unit of the governor.
Attempts to scuttle the electoral process in the polling unit in Iregun were resisted by determined electorates, and security agents, including the police, army, the NSCDC, the NDLEA, among others.
Contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said he would find out about the attack and get back to our correspondent.
He had yet to do so as of the time this report was filed.
THE PUNCH
