Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
There were sporadic gunshots at Uneme-Nekhua, Ward 1, Unit 9, in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State, where the Deputy Majority Leader, House of Representatives, representing the constituency, Hon Peter Akpatason, voted Saturday.
Addressing reporters, the visibly angry Akpatason took it on the security personnel for not showing up on time when they were most needed, saying that their delay almost had his constituents resort to self-defence but that he was able to calm them down.
Akpatason, who is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said one of the known thugs hauled pebbles at the voters with the intention of discouraging them and that the pebbles eventually shattered the windshield of his car.
‘Well, I think the first thing we need to look out [for] is the level of political consciousness in the place, the turnout. It is [almost] 2 pm and you can still see that people are still voting. We are a community that is highly politically conscious,’ the federal lawmaker said.
‘It is not unusual that sometimes people disagree but it becomes worrisome when it’s obvious that it is politically motivated with the view of discrediting [and] creating a ground for the cancellation of this genuine and legitimate results.
‘This was predicted, there was a prediction, it is written all over the press that some people were planning to attack this voting centre. Right from last night, they have been hovering around everywhere, we kept vigil to make sure that the untold doesn’t happen; but eventually, some miscreants decided to be unruly to the extent that a known person resorted to throwing pebbles to disperse people who have come to vote so that they will not vote. I believed that it was an intent to ensure that we don’t get maximum votes in this place or to cause chaos that could possibly lead to the discrediting of the results.
‘I thanked God that my people are very mature, they have handled the whole thing with a high sense of responsibility but, however, every act of crime will surely be accounted for. As a result of that, I am going to go ahead to incident the report of one little boy who was trying to throw missiles at innocent voters to the extent of hitting my own car.
‘In this community, we know that it is people that are behind them but we know that they are losers, they will always do everything to scuttle the peaceful, the credible voting process that has always taken place, that was taking and is still taking place in this community,’ he said.
Akpatason expressed his optimism that the APC governorship candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, will emerge victorious at the polls.
‘Victory for APC, victory for Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, victory for Mallam Gani Audu,’ he said.
