Lagos LG Poll: Security Operatives Look Away As APC Candidate Loyalists Assault LP Agent At Polling Unit
Some aggrieved loyalists of the chairmanship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ifako Ijaiye local government on Saturday allegedly assaulted the agent of the Labour Party (LP), Spencer Dominic, at 027 polling unit along Yaya Abatan, Ogba, Lagos.
The mild drama, according to report, ensued when the APC loyalists informed the LP agent to move away behind the electoral officers when their party candidate, Usman Akanbi Hamzat, was about to cast his vote.
The loyalists, in an attempt to order the LP agent to do their bidding, dragged and slapped him while shouting at the top of their voices.
This happened right in the presence of security operatives who looked away.
It took the intervention of a few people who stopped the assault, restoring sanity at the polling unit.
In a chat with the LP agent, he said he stayed behind the electoral officers to ensure transparency but was surprised when the APC members attacked him
“I have to stay behind the electoral officers, watching the people coming to vote to confirm their voter cards. When the chairman came and asked me to leave the place, I said no, that I needed to view the voters’ cards of the people.”
“Then, the APC people started beating me,” he said.
One of the APC leaders, Gbenga Adebowale, argued that the LP agent was not supposed to be behind electoral officers, and was expected to keep a distance.
“The chairman of the council is the existing chairman and by the virtue of the anything he wants to join the queue and people ask him to come and for him to vote, you are now asking him his voter card.”
“Who are you? As an agent, you want to question the chairman of the local government, that is not the thing, and then there is a rule for every electioneering and polling unit agent officer; there is a distance that you must maintain.
“So when you are standing behind the electoral officers, that means you want to cause problems, and that’s what they were telling him, and he was aggressive about it,” he said.
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
