Violence, apathy mar Niger LG election

The Niger State local government election on Saturday recorded a low turnout of voters, while violence was witnessed in some parts of the state.

As of 8:30 a.m. when our correspondent started observing the poll, many polling units were without electoral officials and voters.

Election materials started arriving at some of the polling units around 11 a.m. with less than 20 voters present.

In Magama Local Government Area, hoodlums disrupted the exercise as they set election materials ablaze in the council.

An eyewitness in the area told that trouble started when officials of one of the opposition parties contesting the election inspected the materials.

According to the eyewitness, after confirming the navy blue–marked ballot papers for the chairmanship position and the red ink–marked ballot papers for the councillorship position, the party officials insisted on seeing the election result sheets.

He said the area electoral officer could not provide any reasonable answer to the officials, who sensed a premeditated plan to write election results.

The officials allegedly grabbed the election materials and set them ablaze as the electoral officials fled the place.

We learnt that the hoodlums who accompanied the party officials had doused the electoral office building with petrol and were about to set it on fire before some residents pleaded that the fire would affect nearby buildings.

The spokesman of the Niger State Police Command, Wasiu Abiodun, who confirmed the incident, said the command had been informed of the skirmishes in the area and that some arrests were made.

We are aware of the incident in Magama, and some arrests have been made, but I can’t confirm the exact number for now. The telephone network in the area is relatively bad; we are waiting for a full briefing before we can confirm the actual number of arrests,” Abiodun said.

Suleja Local Government Area also witnessed ballot snatching in some polling booths.

Some policemen said that hoodlums invaded some of the polling booths and snatched the ballot boxes.

“The election was going on at the polling units when the hoodlums stormed the venues, brandishing dangerous weapons. Election officials and the electorate at the polling booths ran for safety,” one of the policemen said.

Meanwhile, Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, expressed delight over the voter turnout at the poll.

The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Bologi Ibrahim, in a statement made available to journalists, said the governor made the comments after voting at his Tswashagirabba polling unit 010, Landzun Ward, Bida Local Government Area of the state.

“This is an experience that will show the acceptance of democracy in Nigeria. The way the people came out here is unprecedented; even at the general elections, we didn’t have this number, so it means the populace trusts the system,” Bago said.

Similarly, the Political Adviser to the governor, Nma Kolo, also confirmed the burning of election materials in Magama, saying the materials involved were those of a ward, adding that the election went ahead in the council despite the incident.

“We have 274 wards in Niger State. It is a normal thing in politics to have little hitches, but happily, the exercise is going on smoothly in other areas,” he said.

Kolo expressed satisfaction with reports from the 25 local government areas, saying the exercise had been relatively peaceful and devoid of any violence or ballot box snatching.