Chinelo Obogo
Compared to the presidential and National Assembly elections which were held on February 23, the governorship and House of Assembly elections had very low turnout in many polling units in Oshodi Isolo Local Government Area, Lagos.
Accreditation and voting was to officially commence at 8am, but from 9am, most of the polling units visited by our correspondent within Jakande Estate, Oke-Afa, Isolo, Okota and Ilasa had very few voters present.
Olabisi Jimoh, a resident of Jakande Estate, Oke Afa, told our reporter that he arrived his polling unit located at the Low Cost Housing Estate Primary School at 8.30am but there was no activity there.
“I arrived my polling unit at 30am to vote but the place was empty as you can see. I suspect that because of the violence that occurred in the last elections, many eligible voters lost interest in coming out this time around,” Jimoh said.
But while many eligible voters stayed away from casting their ballots in the governorship polls, there was heavy military and police deployment in the governorship election compared to the presidential election.
While driving from Jakande Estate to Amuwo Odofin to monitor the process, the reporter encountered 10 road blocks mounted by the military and the police.
In the presidential election two weeks ago, the reporter saw only one road block mounted by the military.