Hoodlums attacked polling units, attempted to snatch ballot boxes in Osun

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo

Armed thugs stormed some polling units in Osogbo at the ongoing House of Assembly election in Osun State.

The incident, disrupted the voting exercise for some hours before normalcy returned.

It was gathered that the hoodlums arrived Ward 5 unit 10 and 11, Iso-Pako, Alekunwodo area in Osogbo, at about 10:30am in a tinted ash coloured Sienna car and chased voters away.

The armed thugs, who shot sporadically into the air to scare people away destroyed ballot boxes and tore ballot papers which were yet to be used.

It was further gathered that the thugs attempted to snatched the ballot boxes but the electorate resisted them, then they dropped the box and ran away.

Addressing the situation after visiting the scene, Osun INEC Electoral Commissioner, Dr Mutiu Agboke, told the electorate not panic.

He said as long as the attackers did not destroy or carted away the BVAS machine, the voting process would be repeated.

He ordered officials of the commission and security personnel to assist the Presiding Officers to redo the accreditation and voting process for the affected voters of the polling units.

Meanwhile, normalcy has returned to the polling units and the voting exercise is ongoing.

More security personnel have been drafted to the polling units.