Bye-Elections: Ibadan Residents Explain Why They Refused to Vote

• The bye-election in Ibadan North Federal Constituency, Oyo state, was marked by low voter turnout as polling units remained largely empty hours after INEC officials arrived
• The election is being held to fill the seat left vacant after the death of Honourable Musiliudeen Akinremi (Jagaban) in July 2024
• Despite the apathy, security operatives maintained a heavy presence across the constituency, while movement was restricted

Ibadan, Oyo state - Polling units in Ibadan North Federal Constituency were today bereft of voters as electoral officers lay idle in the early hours of the bye-election.

The bye-election is being conducted following the death of Honourable Musiliudeen Akinremi, popularly known as Jagaban, who was representing the constituency until his death in 2024.

But, the election was characterised by low turnout at Bodija, Mokola, Sanngo, Oke Padre, University of Ibadan, among others.

Why we did not vote, residents speak

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Some voters who spoke with Legit.ng explained why they did not vote. They attributed the reason for not voting to either their choice of candidates fielded by the major political parties participating in the election or a lack of interest in voting.

One of the voters, simply identified as Kehinde, said:

“I would have voted if my preferred candidate had been presented by the party. Since the party chose another candidate, I withdrew from voting.”

Oyo bye-election: Voting started late in some areas

Due to some logistics, voting could not start on time in some polling units, as gathered by Legit.ng correspondent. Notwithstanding that most polling units were set for voting even before the official time, voters were still very few.

Between 9am and 9.15am, INEC officials were still expecting voters to come and vote at Ward 6, Unit 21, Ward 10, Unit 28 (old Bodija), Ward 10, Unit 27, around 9.07 am, whereas voting did not start at Ward 10, Unit 11 until around 9.10 am.

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Oyo bye-election: Security is adequate

Typical of one-off elections in Nigeria, the Ibadan North Federal Constituency was protected with heavy security from the Police, the Nigerian Army and NSCDC.

Even though there is voter apathy, the restriction of movement is still in force in the Federal Constituency at the time of filing this report.

Kaduna bye-election: PDP agent arrested with N25m cash

In a related development, the bye-election being held in Kaduna on Saturday, August 16, took a different turn as the security operatives arrested a suspected vote-buyer with the cash sum of N25.9 million.

It was alleged that the money was meant to compromise the electoral exercise in the state. The suspect, who was identified as Shehu Aliyu Patangi, was reportedly arrested around 3.30am on the day of the election.

Police and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) made the arrest at a popular hotel along the Turunku Road in Kaduna metropolis.DSP Mansir Hassan, the spokesperson of the Kaduna Police Command, disclosed the development in a statement on Saturday, adding that the security operatives recovered a total of ₦25,963,000 from the suspect.

Source: Legit.ng