Voters apathy mars Kwara LG polls

By DEMOLA AKINYEMI, Ilorin

Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC) yesterday conducted election across the sixteen local governments in the state to elect new chairmen and councillors to run the affairs of the councils for the next three years.

Opposition party, Action Congress of Nigeria, had failed to halt the election based on the judgment of the Federal High Court last Tuesday which claimed lack of jurisdiction, a development which was said to have been largely responsible for  the party’s  inability to field candidates in many  council areas in the election.

In the GRA, Garage Offa, Maraba, Challenge and Muritala, among others, in Ilorin, the state capital,  visited by Sunday Vanguard  between  10 a.m. and 12 p.m. when voters were expected to come out for accreditation before election proper, there was low turnout.

The election was generally peaceful in Ilorin.

However, peace was reportedly threatened in Offa local government council where loyalists of candidates in the polls engaged  in disagreement over voting process.

The development led to the arrest of some youths while the outgoing council chairman, Mr. Segun Olawoyin, was reportedly assaulted and his house vandalized by hoodlums.

Also, in Ekiti local government council, there were reported cases of pockets of violence which led to  assault on many people in the area.

Governor Bukola Saraki, after casting his vote at Ajikobi Ward in Ilorin West local government council, told journalists that  the election was peaceful, adding that he is proud that the state is setting the pace in the electoral processes.

But, a  former majority leader in the state House of Assembly and leader of Kwara Patriots, Chief Wole Oke, lamented  that, there was no election materials in Share in Ifelodun local  government, adding that it was a deliberate attempt to rig election in the area.

Also the President Human Rights Monitor, Mr. Festus Okoye, who was  around, said the election was peaceful but that  the process introduced by KWASIEC before voting was new to the people hence the apathy.