Election 2011:Titbits from the States

Posted by admin Elections 2011 Saturday, April 16th, 2011

Definitely, Saturday would be a day which some wandering individuals, motorcycle riders and truck drivers around Ogbomoso, Oyo State, would not forget in a hurry.

These set of people have something in common: They flouted the 8am to 5pm restriction on movement imposed by the Federal Government in view of the presidential election.

But they got more than they bargained for when soldiers who were patrolling the council areas caught them unawares.

For the wandering individuals, all they were asked to produce was their voter card. And failure to display it earned them seats on bare floor on the road.

The motorcyclists were not “disciplined” at all. Those caught were only required to leave their motorcycles and come for them at a distant Divisional Police Headquarters after the poll ended.

But for the trailer drivers who were conveying one good or the other along the Ogbomoso-Ilorin Road, they had to observe a stop-over until the conclusion of the election.

Tight security at collation centre.

There was heavy presence of security personnel at the national collation centre, Abuja, where the result of the presidential election would be announced.

Our correspondent observed that stern-looking policemen, drawn from the Anti-Bomb and Anti-Terrorism squads, had been drafted to the area.

The collation centre, which is at the commission’s Democratic Institute, is located at the low-density populated area of Central Area, Abuja. It is also close to the embassy of the United States of America and the National Hospital, Abuja.

The movement of the security operatives, who were also drawn from the State Security Service and the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, was said to have started on Thursday.

On Saturday, when our correspondent visited the place, the road leading to the collation centre had been cordoned off, making it difficult for people to drive to the National Hospital.

It was at this centre that the former Chairman of the commission, Prof. Maurice Iwu, announced the election of late President Umaru Yar’Adua as the winner of the 2007 presidential election.

The chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahitu Jega, who is the National Returning Officer for the presidential election, will announce the result of the presidential election.

If he lives up to his promise, the result is expected to be ready not later than Monday, as he had already promised Nigerians that he would announce all results of the elections not later than 48 hours after each election.

Soldiers strip man of ‘camo’ trousers.

The soldiers manning the roads along Abbatoir area of Agege, Lagos, stripped a young man of his trousers. The man, who said he was going to vote, was stopped by the soldiers who demanded to know what gave him the effrontery to wear trousers made with ‘camo’ (camouflage) fabric at a sensitive period when he could be mistaken for a soldier. He said his father was a soldier and he could wear ‘camo’ if he desired. The soldiers asked him to remove it, but he refused, saying he was not wearing anything underneath.

After much argument, he confessed to the soldiers that his boxers were dirty and his house far. The soldiers didn’t budge and eventually made him remove the trousers, tore it with his own hands, and dropped it in the gutter before he was allowed to go with only his boxers on him.

Town crier mobilises voters in Bayelsa.

If not for a town crier hired by political and community leaders in Odi, Kolokuma/Opokuma areas of Bayelsa state, a low turnout of voters would have marred the presidential election in those areas.

The electoral officials arrived at their various polling units with the required materials at about 9am. They got prepared and waited for voters to come forward for accreditation.

But voters in the communities showed little interest. They came in trickles, rendering the INEC officials almost redundant. Worried by the development, politicians in the community including the Chairman of Labour Party, Mr. Bobo Atari-Adou, held a brief meeting.

They came up with the idea that people had to be informed that INEC officials were around for the election. They hired a town crier.

The town crier toured the communities hitting his gong and invited people to come and exercise their civic responsibility.

The town crier who spoke in the communities’ dialect simply asked the people to come and vote for their chosen candidates.

In a twinkle, the people in the communities ‘located’ their cards and came out.

By 11.30am, the entire polling units were alive with voters waiting to take part in the ballot.

…in Badagry too.

Town criers also went to work in many areas of rural Badagry in an attempt to increase voter participation in Saturday’s presidential election which many voters shunned.

Chairman of Badagry Council Development area, Mr. Joseph Bamgbose, who confirmed the use of the town criers, said he had to deploy that strategy when he noticed the voter apathy earlier, during accreditation.

The chairman of Badagry Local Government Area, Mr Husitode Dosu, said he also sent out canvassers to sensitise his people on the need to come out and vote. Despite these efforts, our correspondent noticed that the turn outs still fell far below expectation.

In unit 10, Ward 1 in Posukoh in Badagry Central LCDA, only 169 voters turned up for accreditation out of the 735 registered voters.

In Ward 4, Unit 02 in LA Primary School in Apa in Badagry West LCDA, 285 were accredited out of 1132 registered voters, while in unit 10, Ward 3 in Ibereko in Olorunda LCDA, 1029 were registered but only 294 were accredited.

At Seme Border, in Unit 31, Ward E in Customs Quarters, 982 were registered and only 280 were accredited. A voter, Mr. Moses Aboki, said there was hardly power supply in many areas in Seme for people to be sufficiently sensitised through the radio or television.

Dosu and Bamgbose said the low turnout conforms to election trends in the country where people’s enthusiasm wanes as the election progresses.’

Voters in Mushin ‘taught’ how to vote.

Some voters at Mushin were taught how to vote at the polling units.

These voters, both old and young, most of whom could not speak English Language, were completely unaware of how to cast their votes. They were thoroughly tutored by the polling agents and many others were guided to thumb print against the party logo of their choice.

At a polling booth located at 199 Agege Motor Road, a young man, probably in his early thirties, simply identified as Yankee, did not know the difference between accreditation and voting. After his accreditation, he went and stood about 20 metres away discussing with his friends. The polling agent called him to come and cast his vote, but he insisted that he had voted, until the polling agent convinced him that what he did was accreditation. Even at that, the polling agent had to demonstrate, how to vote.

Also, some people showed up at the polling units to vote without having been accredited.

In terms of turnout, it was lower than that of the April 9 National Assembly election. The records at most polling units showed that lesser number of people came out to be accredited and for voting. Meanwhile, a lot of young people were seen playing football on streets and many others gathered at bars and food joints. At a polling unit, 101 people were accredited for voting, as against 124 on April 9. And in another polling unit, 186 got accredited as against 225 last week. That was the trend in virtually all the polling units in Mushin. The polling agents said they noticed less enthusiasm in the voters compared to last week.

Our correspondents also observed that a good number of old people of ages above 50 came out to vote. Some who were above 80 years were supported as they walked to cast their votes. One of such senior citizens, Mrs. Bolanle Modinotu, said she put her self through the stress of coming to the polling unit, because she wanted to be involved in the process. “It is because I like to vote,” she said.

Night life died in Lagos on election eve.

On the eve of the presidential election, major night clubs and pleasure spots on the Lagos mainland did not open their doors to customers.

SUNDAY PUNCH investigations revealed that except for few night clubs situated in the back streets in places, such as Ogba and Abule Egba, most night clubs stayed out of business on Friday night in compliance with the ban on movements beyond 10pm.

Earlier, the Federal Government had declared a restriction on movement+ nationwide and shut down the country’s borders as part of its measures to ensure security during the poll.

As a result, night life in major cities, including Lagos, died temporarily.

Popular night clubs in Ikeja, such as the Niteshift Coliseum and the Lagos Sheraton Night Club did not open, while only a few night crawlers who had defied the curfew loitered aimlessly around deserted spots like the Metro Park and The Place on Isaac John Street, in Ikeja GRA.

At the Pekahs on Opebi Road and the popular Alade Close, which were the only well known pleasure spots alive in Ikeja, patronage was very low.

Most people seen hanging out in these places were prostitutes who confessed they had nowhere else to go.

-Punch

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Posted by admin on Apr 16 2011. Filed under Elections 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry