By Adeyinka Adeniran
Low voters turnout amidst heavy security presence on Saturday trailed the conduct of the Bye-election in Ibadan North Federal Constituency.
The election was necessitated by the sudden death of Prince Olaide Aderemi popularly known as Jagaban who died on July 10, 2024, and made the seat vacant.
The late APC lawmaker was 51 years old at the time of his death, which occurred after a brief illness.
Although, seven political parties conducted primaries which was mo stored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Oyo state, only five candidates were cleared to contest the seat which was made vacant by the sudden demise of Prince Olaide Aderemi (popularly called Jagaban) on July 10, 2024.
The contestants for the Bye-election were Akin-Alamu Dexter Femi of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Olatunji Haastrup Adewale of the All Progressive Congress (APC), popularly called Murphy, Odususi Olajumoke Olabisi of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Oyekunle Folajimi of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also known as the Don and Hammed Badmus of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
Poor turnout was noticed virtually every polling units and wards monitored by Corenews on Saturday.
However, no mechanical glitch was recorded in any polling unit as all the Bimodal Verification Accreditation System (BVAS) machine deployed for use by the electoral umpire were fully functional.
Security at the polling units and Wards were also well coordinated with Party agents cooperating well with electoral officials.
Most Polling Units visited had at least an agent of the PDP and APC present aside from any others agent present in only a few places.
Another issue that characterised the election was the early arrival of electoral officials, materials and security operative but late arrival of voters in virtually all polling units visited by Corenews.
At Ward 11, Unit 27, Opposite Immanuel College of Theology, Samonda, the situation was fine and activities went well. Out of about 273 registered voters, less than 30 people were accredited and voted as at 1:00PM when Sunday Nation visited the Unit.
Also, at Ward 11, Unit 8, Inside Immanuel College of Theology, Samonda, out of 749 registered voters, less than 50 persons voted at the election.
The situation was not different at Ward 11, Unit 19, Mechanic Village, 749 names were on the registered voters list, less than 65 people had voted as at 1:30PM.
At Ward 11, Unit 6, Moradeyo, UI/Agbowo road, out of 764 registered voters, 107 individuals were accredited and voted as at the time of visit. At Ward 12, Unit 24, Bodija market, 609 voters were on the register but less than 50 people were accredited to vote.
At Ward 10, Unit 33, opposite Zartech, Bodija, of the 508 registered voters, less than 20 voters had accredited and voted as at 2:05PM. Also at Ward 10, Unit 16, SS Peter and Paul Bust-stop, only 32 voters had voted out of 750 registered voters.
Furthermore, at Ward 3, Unit 47, Beaide Eichalnd Hotel, Yemetu Alaadorin Junction 17 people voted out of 100 registered voters. At Ward 3, Unit 17, Alaadorin Junction, Yemetu II, 62 people voted out of 670 registered voters.
Also at Ward 3, Unit 36, Yemetu Oja, 137 people voted out of 1,019 registered voters as at the time of the visit.
During the election, The Nation observed that the security operatives lived up to their words of ensuring adequate security of electoral officials, materials and others during and after the election.
Corenews reports that, the Commissioner of Police, CP Femi Haruna while leading other security operatives under the aegis of Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) had rolled out the “actionable security measures” put in place ahead of the polls.
Heavy security presence was noticed around Bodija, Samonda, Ashi, Ojoo, Mokola, Total Garden, Agodi Gate, Oje, UI/Agbowo among other places.
Despite the movement restrictions imposed on the Constituency while the election lasted, The Nation observed that residents were still seen moving around in some areas, but stopped at the major points by the security operatives including Policemen, Army, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) among others.
Although no arrest was reportedly made, many unathorised movement were parked down until the movement restriction was lifted around 3PM.
At Bodija market, it was obvious that early morning farm produce traders including pepper sellers, vegetable sellers among other sellers of perishable goods had earlier before the restriction plied their trade and made early morning sales.
During the restriction, the traders covered up their already arranged and displayed wares, while they watch over it from under the shade, an indication of readiness to resume business immediately the restriction was lifted.
According to INEC, 2,062 poll officials were deployed for the conduct of the polls.
The election was conducted at 12 Wards which comprises 512 Polling Units with 272, 196 registered voters, out of which 217, 980 people had their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected before the polls.
Additionally, a total of 526 BVAS machines with additional 48 back-ups were deployed for the election.
The election was conducted across 12 Registration Areas/Wards and affected borders areas including: Sango/Eleyele/Apete/Ijokodo, Beere/Oje/Odoye, Mokola Axis/Adamasingba Axis, UI/Agbowo/Agbowo Express and Gate/Basorun/Ashi.
