Ondo LG poll: Violence mars election in Akoko North-West, residents allege intimidation

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Violence in Ajowa-Akoko, in the state’s Akoko North-West Local Government Area, tainted Saturday’s local government election in Ondo State.

Ajowa community sources claim that the crisis started after a ruse to compel voters, the majority of whom belong to the All Progressives Congress (APC), to support an opposition candidate.

One of the sources, who identified himself as Sesan, claimed that a state and axis minister was responsible for the anti-party action, but he also revealed that the minister used his position to organise security personnel who reportedly interfered with the voting process.

Sesan stressed that issues started in Ward 5 specifically when an APC leader there, acting on the minister’s orders, advised people to support the rise of an opposition candidate instead of voting for Toye, the councillorship candidate.

During the crisis, irate locals, including ladies and young people, blocked the town’s entrance road with a variety of objects and bonfires.

Security personnel used tear gas cannisters on people who demonstrated against the development, injuring many of them, but they refused to let their mandate be revoked.

According to one of the sources,“Akoko North-West belongs to all of us, and we must resist any attempt to turn it into a theatre of personal vendettas and political hegemony. The use of state machinery to disrupt elections and intimidate party members is a gross abuse of power that must not go unchallenged.

“We are calling on the appropriate authorities to immediately investigate the minister’s anti-party activities and his role in the violence and disruptions in Ajowa Ward 5. Evidence of his involvement is available and will be presented to support this call for justice.”

Furthermore, Gani Muhammad Ajowa, the former special adviser to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on special tasks, said: “The minister was accused of acting against the political party that appointed him. As a minister, he oversaw a department of the government and deployed personnel and supplied funding.

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