George Blames Low Voters Turnout on Oba Akiolu’s Threat

Shola Oyeyipo Former Deputy National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), (South) Chief Bode George, has expressed displeasure with the conduct of the governorship election, accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of foul play in the electoral process.

George, who spoke with THISDAY at his situation room on Evans Street, Lagos Island yesterday, expressed concerns that the ruling party influenced the outcome of the election in its favour.

He also blamed the low turnout of the electorate for the election, particularly, the non-indigenes, on the purported threat against the Igbos by the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu.

“All I always said is that I’m sure Tinubu should remember the crisis in 1964. The bane of the problem was refusing to heed what the people wanted. Now they have finished voting in many places but they are preventing them from counting votes. They have also threatened and intimidated the non-indigenes. The voice of the people is the voice of God. Let him learn how to accept defeat.

“He (Tinubu) should just be careful; Lagos is a mini Nigeria. At Arooloya, they arrested some people thumb printing. People are calling and giving us reports of incidences and we are logging them,” he noted.

But reacting to the allegations, the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, denied that his party was involved in any foul play.

He said the APC lacked the kind of capacity at the disposal of the PDP. Instead, he accused the PDP of perpetrating violence in some of the APC strongholds.

“It is their game. We don’t have the capacity to do that. We don’t have the character. If you talk of violence, intimidation, brigandage; it is the PDP. They have taken over the federal roads. They came to Bourdilon and placed posters from the beginning to the end.

“They have the control of the police and the army. Don’t you know when they sent OPC after us? We thought they would unleash terror of Lagosians but they are afraid of Lagosians. At the end of the day, Lagos State stands to benefit so much from an APC at the central and at the state level.

“The issue of the Fourth Mainland is there. The issue of the 37 LCDAs is there. Lagos is still one state created several years back. Some of the states created along with it are now four states. We are not asking for new state; we want special status for Lagos. The Lagos-Badagry Expressway is there,” he noted.

He said: “We were able to achieve peace in this election in Lagos, like we did during the presidential and National Assembly elections.

“In fact, we improved upon the security on ground, protecting election materials, movement of the people and protection of the collation centres.

“I don’t think it has ever been like this before in Lagos. It was hitch-free, no election malpractices, no snatching of ballot boxes. It was generally peaceful. “The election was so keenly contested and this is where the joy and excitement of democracy has taken place.”

Meanwhile, security measures across the state has been tightened to forestall any unwanton destruction of lives and properties, especially in flash point areas.

THISDAY checks revealed that black spots like Mushin, Oshodi, Apapa and Lagos Island, which have often witnessed political uprisings, are closely being marked by security agencies drawn from different services.

The party added that “the malpractices were executed with the assistance and acquiescence of INEC ad hoc staffs, youth corps members and security agents entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring a free, fair and credible elections in the state.”

The party stated that in Awgu Local Government Area, “accreditation of voters was not done with the card reader as prescribed... instead of locating a working card reader or stopping the election, they decided to use manual accreditation.”

APC accused the PDP agents and the principal officers in the local government of bringing out stack of permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) which was used to vote.

“At Owelli/Amougbo Ward PDP agents stormed polling unit 9 and snatched the ballot box and threatened bodily harm to those opposed to their illegal acts. The INEC officials ran away and abandoned the electoral materials with PDP agents and their partners in crime,” the petition added. Mike Igini, said elections have been concluded in the state, commending the people of the state for their support throughout the elections.

Some of the House of Assembly results in Edo South indicated that the immediate past Edo State Commissioner in the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and APC House of Assembly candidate in Ikpoba Okha, Mr. Henry Okwuarobo, polled 23,571 as against 14,459 polled by the PDP candidate.

The former chairman of Egor Local Government Area and APC House of Assembly candidate for Egor, Mr. Crosby Eribo, polled 19,554 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Nosa Adams, who polled 12,233 votes. Results from the collations centers indicated that the APC won the entire House of Assembly seats in Edo South and Edo North senatorial districts of the state, while they picked three out of the six in Edo central district.

Igini who spoke to journalists yesterday said, “First, Edo State people, I must commend them for the kind of cooperation they gave to the commission. I must commend them on the way and manner they appreciated that we stand for electoral justice, that all that is required from us is to provide a level playing field. Having looked at the reports from other parts of the country, you will see that the outcome of the election is as contested by the candidates, it is a reflection of what the people wanted.

“Baring a few complaints here and there, any human activity of this complex nature you will not expect that there will be no isolated case of deviation by one ad-hoc staff or the other. Of course on account of politicians who are very very desperate to want to have unfair advantage of the system? Over all I am very satisfied,

particularly with the performance of Saturday election, unlike the first election, our logistics arrangement was perfect.

“We got to all the polling unit at 6am and materials were on ground. There were areas we had issues with card readers in the morning but the problem was quickly dealt with. The card readers worked in a very fantastic manner. Personally, my level of satisfaction in this election on Saturday was very exceptional and I am very happy. I have kept faith that under my watch it will be free, fair, credible election, providing a level playing field for all candidates,” he stated.