March 18, (THEWILL) – Hoodlums suspected to be political thugs, have snatched ballot boxes at Ayegbami polling booth, Ward 3, Unit 5, in Iperu-Remo, Ogun State, shooting sporadically.
The thugs, it was gathered, stormed the polling booth and fired gunshots to scare voters away before snatching the ballot boxes from the polling booth not far from where Governor Dapo Abiodun voted.
A resident, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that the thugs came in a car and snatched the two ballot boxes, but were able to make away with one of the boxes.
He said that such experience occurred during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly Elections, where the same set of political thugs carted away ballot boxes from polling units.
The eyewitness said that the Assistant Polling Officer (APO), Babatunde Alalade, was beaten up by the electorate over the development, accusing him of giving the hoodlums chance to cart away the ballot box.
He alleged that a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was the mastermind of the ballot box snatching, whom he said took the stolen ballot box to his house and changed it to another one with fake votes.
The source said that immediately they snatched away one of the ballot boxes, the voters had to protect the other ballot box, from being whisked away before the security men came to intervene.
“We observed they took one of the ballot boxes, one APC chieftain came in his car with thugs and took the ballot box away. That is why we had to protect the remaining ballot box because the chieftain took the box, to his house and changed the ballot box to another one filled with votes and then returned it to the polling unit”, he said.
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