Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has cast his vote in the ongoing governorship election, alleging that some police personnel are tear-gassing voters in parts of the state to scare them away from polling units.
Adeleke arrived at his polling unit, Unit 009, Ward 02, Agbogunde Sagba, in Ede North, at about 8:30 a.m. and joined other voters to exercise his franchise.
Shortly after voting, the governor also accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of attempting to rig the election, alleging that the police were aiding the party rather than maintaining neutrality.
According to Adeleke, he had received information about a police officer allegedly deployed from Port Harcourt, with the nickname “London,” to disrupt the election and scare voters away in Ede.
“I have received reports on authority information, that there is one police officer that was deployed to come and do a hatchet job in Osun from Port Harcourt. They call his nickname London. He is here in Ede hiding. His own job is to come and destroy Ede, and then scare people, shooting so that they will not vote.
“So, I am calling on the Inspector-General of Police to take note. I am calling on the security agencies to take note. They should deploy him. We don’t want violence in Osun. All we want is free and fair election, so that people can exercise their perform their civic duty,” he said.
Adeleke also alleged that the APC had printed fake ballot papers as part of an attempt to rig the election.
He further claimed that he received reports that police personnel were tear-gassing voters in Modakeke and Obaku to force them to leave polling units.
“Right now, as I’m voting right now, I just received a call in Modakeke and Obaku that police is aiding them to teargas them so that people can run away and people are resolute. They just want to perform their civic duty. Let the security agencies please be neutral and watch it. But I can assure you, at the end of the day, I have God on my side, and I have my people that on my side. I will win this.
“The police are aiding the APC to teargas people so that you know they will not vote.”
Voters turned out as early as
7:20 a.m. at many of the polling units in the state, including Unit 7, Oke-Oja in Osogbo, Osun State, to exercise their franchise as INEC officials prepared the polling unit for the commencement of voting.
Two queues were provided at the polling unit, with one designated for elderly voters and the other for young people.
