The House of Representatives bye-election in Ikenne/Remo North/Sagamu Federal Constituency of Ogun State was on Saturday marred by violence, ballot box snatching, and low voter turnout.
The exercise, which began around 8:30 a.m. in several polling units, was hampered by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which failed to recognise many elderly voters.
In Ikenne and Remo North, some polling centres recorded low numbers of accredited voters despite high voter registration.
The situation turned violent in the afternoon when hooded armed men invaded Wesley Nursery and Primary School, Iperu, the polling centre of the 2023 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Oladipupo Adebutu.
The thugs, riding on motorcycles and armed with dane guns, fired shots into the air, forcing voters, party agents, and election officials to flee before carting away ballot boxes.
An Independent National Electoral Commission official at the unit had earlier confirmed that out of 750 registered voters, 123 had been accredited as of 12:03 p.m. before the attack.
At Remo North, poor turnout was also recorded. For instance, at Igan/Ajina polling unit 16, with 445 registered voters, only 64 had been accredited by 11 a.m. Elderly voters also faced difficulties with accreditation.
A 70-year-old voter, Sobanke Fasasi, lamented his inability to vote after the BVAS repeatedly failed to capture his facial details.
Similar apathy was observed in Ajegunle Ward 6, Ogere, and at Town Planning Ilisan 1, polling unit 005, where only 98 voters were accredited out of 953 registered as of 11 a.m.
Despite relatively peaceful conditions in some areas, the exercise was generally characterised by low participation and incidents of disruption.