Lagos State Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu casting his votes in the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections at Eiyekole Polling Unit, Ward RA 15, Lagos Island Local Government Area of the state … Saturday.

Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, South-West Nigeria, on Saturday claimed that there was no violence in the Governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state.

This was even as, days to the latest elections, after the shock defeat in Lagos of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Presidential Election on February 25, 2023, there were reports of sustained processions of the Oro cult members across the state as part of alleged attempts to cow the non-Yoruba, particularly the Igbo, viewed by sections of the Yoruba as the core opposition to the APC in the state.

There were also reports during the polls Saturday of intimidation and harassment of voters by suspected political party thugs in parts of the state, including Igando and Ijegun.

As at press time, there was an unconfirmed report of the death of one person in Okota as a result of electoral violence unleashed by suspected political thugs.

Masked thugs on Saturday reportedly invaded some polling units at Ward D, Igando/Ikotun, Lagos State, and chased away voters in queue.

The thugs chased away the voters with sticks and knives at the polling units located at Ijegun Community School.

The polling units include 096, 116, 281, 094, 095 and 084.

A News Agency of Nigeria correspondent, who monitored elections in the area, reports that the thugs came to the polling units on motorcycles.

They went from one polling unit to another chasing them away.

The attack compelled  some voters to jump the school’s fence for safety.

Also at Polling Unit 227 located at Awonisi Gate on Ijegamo Road, the thugs also beat up a lady who tried to take their picture.

They allegedly took her phones and her automated teller machine (ATM) cards.

They also allegedly beat up and wounded a man who attempted to challenge them.

Even fter the thugs departed, the voters, including accredited ones, did not return to the polling units as at press time.

Instructively, ahead of the polls, election violence monitoring and mitigation group, the Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), had listed Lagos, Imo and Delta amongst 13 other states that are at high risk of violence in Saturday’s Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.

KDI, which observed that there were a total of 131 cases of violence in the month of February alone, “with 89 of them being Presidential Election Day violence”, called on all election stakeholders to ensure that all efforts are made towards having a violence-free election on Saturday.

KDI Executive Director, Mr. Bukola Idowu, in a Preliminary Statement ahead of the 2023 Governorship and State House of Assembly Election, disclosed that pre-election environment monitoring showed that there had been 482 cases of electoral violence in Nigeria, “leading to over 160 deaths between January 1, 2022, to March 17, 2023”.

Idowu noted that as the country moves closer to the state elections, there have been increased reports of incitements and political party groups attack in Lagos, Kano and Rivers states amongst others.

“While we know that stakeholders are spreading peace messaging around the states, we strongly suggest that on March 18 election special attention should be given to Lagos, Imo, Delta, Rivers, Oyo, Cross River, Ebonyi and Ogun in the south, while Kwara, Kogi, Plateau, Taraba, Kaduna, Kano and Bauchi are states that our analysis has been marked as areas at the risk of violence in the election”, the group stated.

Sanwo-Olu, who is seeking reelection, spoke of violence-free elections in Lagos shortly after casting vote at Eiyekole Polling Unit, Ward RA 15, in Lagos Island Local Government Area of the state.

Sanwo-Olu, who arrived at the polling unit with his wife, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, at 10:13 AM, did his accreditation and cast his vote at 10:18 AM.

The Lagos Governor told journalists after the exercise that electoral process should be violence free, urging all to maintain peace.

The Governor commended officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for being punctual and the voters for the large and impressive turnout, as well as conducting themselves peacefully during the elections.

He called on more people to come out and cast their votes, without any fear of intimidation.

He urged all to continue to preach and to advocate for everyone to have the right to be able to express themselves freely, fairly and transparently.

Sanwo-Olu declared that election is a time for all to see and to understand that the process is not meant to be a process of violence.

In his words: “Election that leads to a democratic process is the best form of a validation of what true democracy should be about. So I want to reiterate again, this contest is about peace, is about progress, is about prosperity for our state, and our country at large.

“I am indeed happy driving here this morning that everywhere in the city looks calm. But there are a few disturbing videos that we have also seen where some parties are doing one or two things, which is not verifiable, so I’m not going to talk about it.

“Truly, really, it is just to say that I’m excited and I’m happy to be here and I want to ask that all of our voters, all of our citizens should remain vigilant. If you see anything, say something.

“Let’s come out and exercise our rights freely, devoid of any form of acrimony or any form of protest or any form of intimidation. That is not acceptable as a government.”

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