Osun Rerun: Thugs Block PDP Voters From Entering Polling Unit

 

 

There is a plot to rig the Osun State governorship election in Ward 8 Unit 1, Kajola Village in Orolu Local Government area, Sahara Reporters can authoritatively confirm.

 

When a correspondent visited the polling unit, members of the community were being screened by some thugs. The residents were asked to tender their PVCs and were asked which party they belonged to. Failure to answer this question meant the residents were sent back, while those who answered that they were for the All Progressives Congress (APC) were allowed to pass.

 

Upon arrival at the polling unit, Sahara Reporters noticed that the agent of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was absent at the unit, and that voting had already begun with heavy security presence. 

 

The polling unit in this area is located in a very thick bush, rendering access to the area very difficult.

 

The scenario in kajola mirrors SaharaReporters' findings in Disu, also in Orolu Local Government Area of the state, where residents refused to vote until adequate security was provided, following attacks on their farms on Wednesday by thugs they accused of being loyal to the APC.

 

The residents had alleged that the thugs threatened them against coming out to vote today, stating that if they did so, they would regret it. They said most of them could not sleep in their homes on Wednesday night, as the safety of their lives could not be guaranteed.

 

In other news, security officials have blocked SaharaReporters and other journalists from gaining entrance into Ward 8, Polling Unit 4 of Idiya in Orolu Local Government Area.

 

After leaving Kajola Village, news correspondents made their way to the polling unit in company of a police vehicle that was heading there.

 

As SaharaReporters approached the entrance to the unit, some security officials were also making their way out and they stopped both the police vehicle and those coming with it.

 

The senior officer in the Police vehicle came down to introduce himself to the commandant in the vehicle coming out of the area. After introducing himself, he was asked if he knew those following him at the back — the journalists — to which he replied in the negative.

 

The SaharaReporters crew and other pressmen, however, identified themselves and immediately the senior Police officer heard that the vehicle was conveying journalists, he ordered the occupants of the vehicle to leave the area.

 

Another journalist was stopped from capturing the incident and his phone was seized by some thugs within the area.