Residents in Ogun State yesterday trooped out to elect chairmen and councillors into the state’s 20 local government councils and 236 wards across the three senatorial districts.

Checks by our correspondent at some polling units and wards in Sagamu and Ikenne local government areas respectively showed that voters arrived early at their various centres and were waiting for electoral materials and officials of the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) for the exercise to commence.

Speaking with Sunday Sun, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who simply identified himself as D1 said voters were waiting for voting materials and OGSIEC officials to arrive for the poll to commence at a polling unit inside Wesley Primary School, Ward 10, Sagamu.

At unit 3, ward 3 at Iregun in Ikenne Local Government Area, voting began around 10:30am.

The election was planned to start by 8:00am and end by 2:00pm but as at 9:00 am, voting had not commenced at some of the centres monitored in Ikenne and Sagamu due to late arrival of election materials and electoral officials.

However, there was a heavy presence of security agencies comprising operatives of the Nigeria Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Department of State Service (DSS) at strategic places to provide security for the exercise and enforce restriction on unauthorized movement during the voting period.

In his remarks on the election, Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, commended the peaceful conduct of the local government election and lauded residents of the state for turning out to exercise their franchise in the 20 local government area.

Abiodun spoke to newsmen after casting his vote at Unit 2, Ward 2, Ita Osanyin, Iperu-Remo in Ikenne Local Government Area of the state.

The governor said that the turnout had shown the people’s continuous support for democracy.

His words: “The feedback we have gotten has been very diligent. In any election, we can’t rule out logistics hiccups but by and large electoral materials reached all the nooks and crannies of the state.

“I want to commend our law enforcement agencies. I have seen the presence of the police, civil defence, Department of State Security and Amotekun Corps. I want to commend them for working collaboratively to ensure we have a peaceful election today.”

Meanwhile, the Labour Party (LP) in Ogun has called on the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) to cancel the entire local government election across the state for being in clear violation of the electoral guidelines of Ogun State Electoral Law.

The State Chairman of the LP, Lookman Jagun, made the call yesterday while addressing a press conference in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

Jagun said there were no election materials at some polling units as at 1.30pm, adding that the few polling units where election materials were delivered, they were incomplete.

Jagun explained further that the call for cancellation of the LG poll became imperative as there was no election whatsoever in virtually all the polling units in the state, pointing out that OGSIEC officials were nowhere to be seen in over 90 per cent of the polling units.

Describing the LG election as a “charade”, Jagun declared that his party would outrightly reject the election results and challenge the outcome in the court of law, if the OGSIEC failed to cancel the election.

His words: “More worrisome is the fact that our teeming supporters, made up of youths, old men and women, came out in their numbers to exercise their democratic rights.

“They waited endlessly for the arrival of OGSIEC officials and the election materials, which never came. In the few places where the materials were delivered, our supporters were chased away from the polling units and those who stood their grounds were beaten.

“The Chairman of OGSIEC Babatunde Osibodu has failed to use the opportunity of the local government election to distinguish himself.

“The good people of Ogun state were deliberately disenfranchised and prevented from using their votes to express their dissatisfaction with the failure of governance in the state. We totally reject whatever results that are declared in this sham of an election.” (Sunday Sun)

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