The 2023 Nigeria’s general elections were marred by pockets of violence and attack on voters in some states including Lagos.
Apart from the fact that the election is peaceful in some areas, in other areas, voting was disrupted when armed thugs arrived at polling units and shot sporadically into the air to disrupt the election, and disperse voters.
Voters and party agents were injured while others scampered for safety, and generally voting started two or three hours behind schedule in some areas and for some others voting did not start until 12 pm.
It was a bitter experience for voters and political party agents in Surulere area of Lagos State where residents had come out in their numbers to vote for their choice candidates, unfortunately political thugs took over the stage as they shot sporadically in polling units, warning voters to stay away from the polling units if they were not going to vote for their party.
A voter, Jennifer Edifi, was attacked at her polling unit in Surulere during the presidential election. Edifi, a mother of two, went out to vote but was attacked and returned home with a battered face courtesy of political thugs.
However, her courage to return to her polling unit 065 in Surulere to cast her vote despite the attack made many celebrate her as a heroine of democracy.
Abolarin Oluwaseun John, an agent of the Labour Party at apolling unit in Surulere, never imagined being attacked and brutalised in an area he is familiar with.
“I was one of the agents injured during the governorship election at my polling unit.”
“Actually, that morning, they came when we were all getting ready to exercise our voting right. They came and told us to leave.”
“Later, they brought some cars and buses with bottles, cutlasses, and jass known as Ibate, and they came and chased everybody with guns.
“They attacked me because one pointed me to them because most of them knew me in the area.”
Abolarin stated that the thugs came from Ijesha and Aguda axis of Surulere.
“The political thugs also said they will come back to me even after the elections since they can identify my face very well. As it is, I am seriously scared”, Abolarin said.
Also, case of 68-year-old Simon Maduekwe in Somolu area of Lagos, who died from a commotion arising from the activities of political thugs during the election was not different.
The son of the deceased, Somtochukwu, who spoke to journalists said “To take you back, the Presidential election happened on February 25, so the polling unit for the two streets, Fatomi and Nnaemeka, had one entrance and one polling unit, and it was stationed in front of our house,” he explained.
“So most of the time, the ruling party are constantly losing this particular polling unit, so during the presidential election, they lost this polling unit, so they were unhappy that they lost the polling unit and the others like the senatorial and the rest.
“So they were unhappy about it and even wanted to scatter the place that very day; they just freed it. We already knew that during the governorship election, they might allow the Presidential election to slide but will not allow the governorship to slide. So they were already angry about what happened during the presidential,” the grieving young man said.
On how his father died, he said the problem started when some thugs invaded the Polling unit stationed in front of their compound with dangerous weapons and noticed that someone was recording them. The person ran into their compound.
“They got angry, rushed him, and he ran into the compound, and they were pushing the gate, then they overpowered him. “
“I went down with my younger brother to meet them. We now met them at the back, where they were threatening him, so someone came and begged them that they should let him delete the video, and he deleted the video in my presence, but they kept threatening him that they would deal with him.”
“So we all left the compound to go outside to resume normal voting; the place was still rowdy because people were still angry about what happened; that was when I heard my dad’s voice. He now called one of them to complain that he didn’t like how they were beating people and running into his compound”.
“It was during that commotion; this was within a split second, the next thing I was seeing my dad was falling on the ground and collapsing so because I removed my eyes after he made that complaint, so I don’t know if someone pushed him during that process; he fell, hit his head on the ground, so people started screaming then I now rushed to him.
“He was looking unconscious, so people tried their possible best to see if they could revive him, but he wasn’t still responding, so we had to look for a vehicle; so one APC guy brought his vehicle, then we drove him to the hospital, Somolu General hospital so the doctor did a CPR on him, checked his pulse and vitals there was none so she told us she now said we brought my dad late. That was what happened to my dad.
“If those boys had not come to start causing chaos here, my father might still be alive.”
“He was okay. He was 68, he had High Blood Pressure that he was managing, and he usually goes to the hospital to manage his BP,” Somtochukwu stated after a brief pause.
Somtochukwu urged on by his siblings, said he cannot ascertain if his father was pushed, “but in the midst of the chaos, that’s when he fell; the way he fell was not normal,” he said.
“We took him to the East on Tuesday after the election. The Wake Keep is on April 27 in Lagos, he will be buried on May 12,” he added.
A Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Surulere constituency 1, who spoke with journalists on condition of anonymity, lamented that voters were suppressed, injured and ballot boxes snatched by the thugs in Surulere, and in Lawson area in particular the thugs snatched and destroyed all the ballot boxes, moved from one polling unit to the other snatching and destroying ballot boxes in the process.
“The thugs have taken over everywhere. They have beaten up people in areas where PDP is very strong. They are doing this right under the watch of the police. I have put a call across to the police for help and for over two hours, no help has reached us. They have destroyed the ballot boxes in Lawson and they are going to other polling units to snatch and destroy ballot boxes.
“They have asked voters to stay away from the polling units if they are not going to vote for their party. They have injured a lot of people in the process. I don’t know why there is no presence of the Nigerian Army in Surulere,” the PDP Chieftain said.
The voters who were very determined to vote regrouped after the thugs had left the scene but unfortunately the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials did not return to attend to them.
