Thugs hijack ballot boxes in Ogun

There was violence in some parts of Ogun State as hoodlums suspected to be political thugs invaded polling units and hijacked ballot boxes during the ongoing governorship and House of Assembly elections.

The incidents were recorded in Sagamu, Iperu, and Abeokuta, among other parts of the State.

When our correspondent visited polling unit 5 at AUD secondary school, Sagamu, it was observed that a ballot box was destroyed by the hoodlums.

One of the electorates, Tajudeen Adeoye, said the thugs suspected to be loyal to a political party invaded the polling unit and snatched the ballot box.

He, however, said there was resistance from the police and other security operatives present at the polling unit. “Some boys came to snatch the ballot box, but the police and other security agencies were able to thwart the attempt,” he said.

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At Iperu-Remo, the home town of Governor Dapo Abiodun, there were shootings when hoodlums suspected to be political thugs snatched away two ballot boxes at Polling Unit 05, Ward 03 in the Ayegbami area of the town.

The hoodlums had invaded the polling unit on motorcycles and started shooting into the air with the aim of chasing away voters.

They however, succeeded at escaping with one of the ballot boxes, before security operatives, particularly the policemen on election duty at the nearby road intersection could respond in a gun duel at the scene while the Assistant Polling Officer for the unit, Alalade Babatunde had been beaten up.

The development, however, resulted in chaos, forcing many electorates to scamper for safety to avoid being hit by stray bullets.

The Commissioner of Police, Frank Mba admitted violence in some parts of the state.

“I actually admitted to the fact that we have a few isolated cases of violence, most of those incidences were nib in the bud, we were able to actually take care of them before they became issues that could actually cause major concise for law and other.

“Where certain people make attempt to break the law that’s how criminal behaves anywhere no matter how tight the security is, people will try to breach the law but your job is to constantly reinforce the security conduct,” Mba said while speaking with newsmen.