Lagos Council Polls: Low turnout in Surulere LG

Saturday’s local government election in Lagos was observed by PM News correspondents in different parts of Lagos and one of our news correspondents started the election observation at Ward F, Polling Unit 008, here, electoral officers arrived early and accreditation and voting exercise started immediately.

Hon. Stephen, an APC chieftain who spoke with PM News stressed that the election went well with no disturbance. According to him, the election was free and fair and the overall electoral process was peaceful.

PM News also visited Ward F1, Polling Unit 007 (Zone A), and Mr Idowu Oluwasesan, Labour Party Agent, said there was a low turn out of voters which he attributed to the heavy downpour.

Mr Oluwasesan also observed that the electoral officers weren’t punctual because they were delayed by rain. On the whole, the electoral process at this polling booth was peaceful.

PM News was also present at Ward F1, Polling Unit 003 where we spoke with voters. Mr Emmanuel Taiwo, a voter, was not impressed with the turn out of voters because people refused to come out to vote as they all hid under the guise of the rain.

Mr Taiwo expressed his satisfaction with the punctuality of the electoral officers as they started accreditation and voting at exactly 9:00 am.

Speaking with PM News correspondent, another voter, Mr Adedeji Olanrewaju also maintained that the electoral process was peaceful except for the low turnout.

He also expressed satisfaction at the privacy voters enjoyed during the exercise. He noted that this exercise allowed for the security of voters’ rights.

PM News also spoke with Hon Phillips Olubunmi Emmanuel who contested under the platform of APC under Ward F, Surulere LGA.

Hon Emmanuel also exercised his satisfaction on the success of the electoral process in his ward. He stressed that no one was disenfranchised while appreciating all the security officials that were assigned to the different polling booths in his ward.

The only shortcoming of the election according to him was the heavy downpour which delayed electoral officials and also fueled the low turnout of voters.

At the end of the day, APC worn in all three polling booths and results from other polling booths across Surulere LGA were still being collated as at the time of filing this report.

Some of the ills observed during the election were that some voters were permitted to cast their votes without PVCs (Permanent Voters Cards).

Some voters tendered National ID cards and were allowed to vote while some others were accredited and allowed to vote using their TVCs (Temporary Voters Cards).