Wilson Adekumola
A Civil Society Organisation, Connected Development has condemned the alleged attack and abolition of voters in Lagos State.
The Chief Executive Officer of the group, Hamzat Lawaal, condemned the act while speaking with journalists of its observation during the governorship election and state House of Assembly elections in different states.
While expressing worries over the conduct of the governorship election in a number of polling units where the governorship election were held, the group noted that there was violence in many polling units across the nation.
It identified Lagos State, Ojo/Iba LCDA Local Govt Area, Polling unit: Princess Eneni Street, Victory Estate, Polling unit code: 091, as one of the affected areas.
”For example, in Ebonyi State, one of our own, an accredited Uzabe field observer, Uzodimma Lucy Ogodo was brutally attacked for refusing to vote for a particular party. This is unacceptable and against the tenets of democracy which we strive so hard to maintain as a nation.
”The democratic contract of our country dictates that we as citizens have the exclusive right to determine who our leaders are and we must protect this right, and this is why we are again calling on security agencies to act swiftly and ensure justice is served,” Hamzat added.
The group also hailed INEC for the early opening of polls in 79% of polling units it observed.
”We must commend the functionality of the BVAS in this election. This indicates the commission’s commitment to embracing this new technology in our electioneering process.”
The group, then called on INEC not to renege on its promise to electronically transmit results for the governoship elections.
It praised INEC on the uploads of results on the IReV as it was confirmed that some results have already been uploaded on the IReV portal.