A civil society organisation, Connected Development (CODE) has strongly condemned the alleged attack and suppression of voters in Lagos State.
Hamzat Lawal, the Chief Executive Officer of the group, condemned the act while briefing newsmen of its observation during the governorship election in different states.
The group expressed concern over the conduct of the governorship election in a number of polling units where the governorship election took place.
The group said there was violence in numerous polling units across the country.
It identified Lagos State, Ojo/Iba LCDA Local Govt Area, Polling unit: Princess Eneni Street, Victory Estate, Polling unit code: 091, as one of the affected areas.
”For example, in Ebonyi State, one of our own, an accredited Uzabe field observer, Uzodimma Lucy Ogodo was brutally attacked for refusing to vote for a particular party. This is unacceptable and against the tenets of democracy which we strive so hard to maintain as a nation.
”The democratic contract of our country dictates that we as citizens have the exclusive right to determine who our leaders are and we must protect this right, and this is why we are again calling on security agencies to act swiftly and ensure justice is served,” Hamzat added.
The group also commended INEC for the early opening of polls in 79% of polling units it observed.
”We must commend the functionality of the BVAS in this election. This indicates the commission’s commitment to embracing this new technology in our electioneering process.”
The group, therefore urged the electoral umpire to keep to their promise of electronic transmission of results for the gubernatorial elections. It commended INEC on the uploads of results on the IReV as it confirmed that some results have already been uploaded on the IReV portal.
