29th March, 2015
Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta
Soldiers in and around Sagamu stopped political thugs from snatching a ballot box on Saturday 28 March during the presidential election in Nigeria.
It would be recalled that as at exactly 9:30 pm, our correspondent reliably reported that voting exercise was still ongoing in many polling units in Sagamu and some other area in the state.
The incident, which happened at Itun-sokun ward in the council area, delayed voting proceeding for several hours.
Confirming the incident to our correspondent on phone, one of the ad-hoc staff recruited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) disclosed that the boys attempted to take the box away after scaring people by shooting sporadically into the air, but the soldiers recovered it from them.
Also speaking with our correspondent, the Executive Chairman of Sagamu local government area, Funmilayo Ewuape said the development was shocking, “as the daring gang stormed the complex and started shooting sporadically. They succeed in carting the boxes.
“But, when I got the information, I immediately contacted the soldiers to go after the gang and they retrieved the boxes. We have started voting now at Itun-sokun (9.05pm).
Report however has it that eligible voters in both ward 5 and 7 could not cast their votes due to non availability of voters in the area.
Meanwhile, as at the time of filing this report, many areas within the town were still casting their votes while few polling units have began counting and sorting of votes.