Accreditation of voters also commenced late in several areas, while the electorate also complained of late arrival of election materials, even in areas where they were eager to exercise their franchise.
One of the factors responsible for the low turnout was hinged on economic hardship and the anger that previous council polls hardly represent the desire of the electorate. However, there was no record of violence across the state as of the time of filing the report.
The state Commissioner of Police, Adebola Hamzat and Chairman, Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC), Isiaka Olagunju, both confirmed that there was no violence during the exercise.
Hamzat, who led a combined team of security operatives and relevant stakeholders, said there was no violence just as Olagunju, who also monitored the polls across Ibadan, confirmed there was no violence.
Recall that over 12,000 security operatives, excluding the military, were reportedly deployed to monitor the election in the 33 local councils of the state.
Those in company of the Commissioner of Police included the state Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Augustine Padonu.
Others are Abdulraheem Salami, Controller of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) and Deputy Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Bayode Olugbesan.
Others were the state Controller of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Meanwhile, Governor Seyi Makinde, after casting his vote at Iwo Road, said: “For us in Oyo State, it is almost like a given, democracy at the grassroots is what we practice. It’s almost our fifth year in office and we are holding a local government election for the second time.
Before we came in, it had always been a caretaker administration, where the people did not always have a say on who should govern them at the grassroots level.”
Also confirming that there was no violence, the governor said: “You can see how people are going about exercising their civic rights peacefully, and are obeying public law and order. I’d like to commend our people for coming and taking this civic exercise seriously. The security has been excellent truly. I challenge people to compare it with the INEC-organised elections and see how transparent the process is.
“For the people, I will say accept the outcome, if you see anything that looks like irregularities as far as this exercise is concerned, bring it up to the authorities and then they will deal with it”.
In a similar vein, Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Mr. Adebo Ogundoyin, described the council polls in Ibarapa East Local Council as one of the best in the area and in the state.
The Ibarapa-born politician and chairman, Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures in Nigeria, commended OYSIEC for conducting seamless polls, just as he commended the security agencies for a job well done.
Ogundoyin, after casting his vote at Ward 2 Anko area of Eruwa at 10:45am, explained that the peaceful conduct of the election was a testament to Makinde’s promise of a credible poll.
However, the major opposition party in the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has called for the cancellation of the polls, describing it as a sham, which is capable of causing the Pacesetter State untold disrepute if allowed to stand.
It, therefore, called on OYSIEC to cancel the exercise and reschedule it for another day when it is ready to conduct a free, fair and credible poll.
The party alleged that reports from across the state indicated that cases of non-availability of election officials, disenfranchisement of eligible voters, shortage of voting materials, violence and threat to life were recorded while the electoral commission appeared helpless to rescue the situation even as voters waited endlessly in most of the places affected.
In a statement issued by the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Olawale Sadare, APC regretted that “another opportunity to deepen democracy and return power to the people at the grassroots has been missed due to the insensitivity and insincerity of the ruling class in the state.”
It added: “With what is happening at the moment in most Polling Units across the state, Gov. Seyi Makinde has again disappointed the whole world. He promised the people that their votes would count today but the opposite is the case. The good people of the state desired to participate in an election to elect a new set of council officials but what they are experiencing is nothing but a sham.
“Even if OYSIEC comes out later to declare all the candidates of the APC, we would not rate this election as credible and acceptable as it falls below the minimum global standard of election conduct.
“The best thing is for the Commission to suspend the exercise and choose another date for a proper conduct rather than continue to connive with a few anti-democratic elements in the ruling PDP to perpetrate electoral fraud and desecration of democracy in the land.
“For the avoidance of doubt, OYSIEC started with a back and forth position on the need to deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the conduct of the poll.
“Few days ago, the commission recruited PDP members as its adhoc staff and this same set of people were saddled with the responsibility of conducting the poll and they have been carrying out the script given to them by the powers-that-be in the state. What could be the rationale behind taking 500 pieces of ballot papers to a Polling Unit where about 1,500 registered as eligible voters?
“OYSIEC failed to mobilise officials to attend to prospective voters in key polling units while it also released inadequate voting materials to virtually all the polling units. In most Polling Units, officials of the commission did not arrive until 12 noon when most voters had left for their respective homes in frustration. This aptly validated the suspicion that the PDP had handed a script to the commission to implement in their favour.
“In the 10 local government councils of Oke-Ogun, the official result sheets known as Form EC8A were withheld by OYSIEC’s Electoral Officers while political thugs were unleashed on some members of the opposition who asked questions in places like Kajola, Olorunsogo, Itesiwaju, Ibarapa East, Lagelu, Ido, Oyo East, Atiba, Oluyole, among others. The chairman of our party in Ibarapa East, Mr. Segun Ojediran, was violently attacked by the PDP thugs in Eruwa and he is now receiving treatment in a private hospital.”
The party also said OYISEC has failed to accommodate more than 80 per cent of the eligible voters in the state, adding that there is no way the meager 20 per cent of people who were lucky to cast their votes in a lawful manner could decide the fate of the vast majority.
“Obviously, the commission allowed a few people to cast their votes at the polling units while the balance of majority rights to vote was secretly handed down to the PDP. Any electoral victory given behind closed doors is illegitimate, tainted and unacceptable. Therefore, we call for the total cancellation of the whole exercise as it was done today,” APC said.
However, the Southwest leader of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Adebidi Olopoeyan, differed from the APC. He said contrary to what the major opposition party observed, “the election was peaceful.”
He added: “There was no report of violence so far across the 33 local governments. Governor Makinde has done what no governor had done in Oyo by conducting two successful council polls without rancour.”
