Grassroots voting peaceful in Amuwo Odofin, Mile 2

Some Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials slept over in Amuwo Odofin and were at the polling unit as early as 7:00 am, according to a member of the electoral umpire who pleaded anonymity.

By 8:15 am, Ward A2 residents commenced voting inside Amuwo Odofin nursery and primary school. That is the venue for four polling units, 023, 024, 051 and 052.

At 9:10, the sun was out at 29⁰ with the queue at polling unit 023, 15 meters long and was the longest.This inconvenient situation did not deter the voters from exercising their civic duty.

At polling unit (PU) 052, just to the left of 023, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine was not working around that time. Lawrence Etim, a voter who arrived at 7:30 am, said he found at around 09:45 that the e BVAS for his unit was not responding while other units were voting.

“I’m getting frustrated because I feel like I’m going to be disenfranchised,” Etim said. “Voting ends by 2pm and if we start late, many people will not be able to vote. INEC should have a backup BVAS for every unit.”

Ajele Abeyi Abayomi, chairman, Amuwo Odofin branch, Lagos State Parks and Garage Management (LSPGM) who casted his vote, 09:15 am at PU 051, had a different experience.

He said the process from accreditation to voting in Ward A2 was peaceful.

“Everything is going on smoothly except that we have some issues with the BVAS in polling unit 052 which the inec and adhoc staff assure us will be fixed,” Abayomi said. Asides that, the INEC staff here performed well and excellently and our members at the LSPGM voted with ease..

Also known as Ikomodina, the branch chairman said that “Why you see a lot of youths here is because of the belief they have in our presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, because he has the experience to deliver and he has done it before during his tenure as the governor of Lagos state.”

Similarly, Courage Chinedu, who casted his vote, 10:55 am, without stress also at PU 051 is a first time voter.

“I trekked all the way from Aguda to Amuwo Odofin to cast my vote, Chinedu said. “I was here four years ago but the atmosphere was disorganised and I think they fought that day at some point. I went back home annoyed.”

“Today, I got here a bit late and I’m already voting after my accreditation, which took less than five minutes,” he said.

Eventually, after several calls made by polling agents and party members, INEC officials at PU 051 were able to proffer a solution after four hours, 58 minutes to the delight of the anxious voters.

At 11:58 am, the BVAS machine worked, accreditation started at 12:03, and the first person voted at 12:13.

In a short period of time, the queue of voters stretched 8 meters. Some had been sitting under the tree while others strolled around, visiting other polling units.

From investigation, BusinessDay found that the Area Commander deployed police officers as early as 0400 hours
and so far so good, the police recorded success, no casualties or break down of law and order in Amuwo Odofin.

In addition, the only voters people had were with faulty INEC materials and police worked with the electoral body to prevent situations from getting out of hand.

Over 1,000 police officers were deployed to Amuwo Odofin axis which comprises seven divisions including Festac police station, Okoko police station, Onireke, Ojo and Iba, Trade fair and Satellite police stations.

All inec officials in Amuwo Odofin had enough security to conduct their activities, the investigation revealed.

At 01:45 pm, the crowd inside Amuwo Odofin nursery and primary school thinned and everywhere got quiet.

It seemed everyone left at the same time but Adekahunsi Michael, a 68 year old voter said, “we are still around, patiently waiting for voting to end at 2:00 pm and for counting to start. That is why we are here.”