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Wada, Awoniyi condemn process in their domains

By John Akubo, Lokoja
11 March 2019   |   1:58 am
Former Governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada and his deputy, Yomi Awoniyi, have condemned the process adopted for the state House of Assembly election, saying that the poll was marred by ballot box-snatching and shooting by gun-wielding thugs.

Idris Wada

Former Governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada and his deputy, Yomi Awoniyi, have condemned the process adopted for the state House of Assembly election, saying that the poll was marred by ballot box-snatching and shooting by gun-wielding thugs.

While Wada called for cancellation of the state Assembly and Dekina/Bassa Federal Constituency supplementary elections in Dekina Local Council, Awoniyi said his people in Mopa Amaro boycotted the election after it was shifted due to a mix-up in election materials. Wada, who spoke at Odu-Ogboyaga, Dekina Local Council at the weekend, said the call was based on the malpractices and violence that marred the election.

The former governor alleged that gun-wielding hoodlums in police uniform stole ballot boxes in most wards and units in the council.
“In Odu Ward 1, Unit 001 where I voted, votes for other parties than the All Progressives Congress (APC) were removed from the boxes and torn as soon as the voters voted and left the vicinity of the unit.

“When they heard that I was coming, they stopped and everything was calm but as soon as I voted and left, they resumed. I complained to the electoral officer and of course, he denied it,” he said. Wada alleged that in many places in Odu ward, hoodlums invaded polling units, sometimes with police escort, carried the ballot boxes and papers and disappeared.

Awoniyi said: “Elections in Nigeria has become a farce.
Ballot box-snatching, shooting of party agents and harassment of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) members are unprecedented.

“In my local government area where the House of Assembly election was rescheduled to Sunday, March 10, 2019 due to ballot paper mix-up by INEC, we had to boycott the election in solidarity with our party faithful in other local councils in our senatorial district who held elections as scheduled on Saturday.“These local councils experienced mayhem and wanton destruction with a heavy dose of electoral robbery. Gunshots reigned throughout the night for the last three days preceding the election. Ballot boxes were snatched at will by some mercenaries.”

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