Anxiety, Chaos Almost Marred Supplementary Election In Sokoto

The supplementary elections at Rijiya “A” 004 Polling Unit in Sokoto South Local Government was almost marred by chaotic atmosphere with attendant rowdiness, tension and anxiety resulting in the exchange of blows among supporters and agents of the two major political parties.

It took the presence of the Commissioner of police, Mr Garba D. Muhammad and his men to control the situation.

A source revealed that the situation was sparked by attempt from an agent of one of the major contenders to engage in alleged vote buying as the agent was allegedly offering N10,000 per vote.

In spite of the tight security, the development at the polling unit with no fewer than 405 registered voters, created a chaotic atmosphere which almost overwhelmed the security agents deployed in the unit.

However, the polling unit, our correspondent gathered, was already speculated to be a tough spot where the contest was keen during the general elections.

Meanwhile, materials and INEC officials were reported to have been promptly available with smart card readers functioning smoothly in most polling units visited.

It was gathered that voters had filed out as early as 6.00am at the polling units with a large turnout of women to exercise their franchise.

The state Commissioner of Finance, Saidu Umar who spoke at the scene of the exercise urged security agents to remain vigilant to ensure the smooth conduct of polls.

The re-run exercise was reported to have commenced orderly and peacefully but at a point, the scenario became tensed and the exercise almost got disrupted.

However, larger chunk of attention by the two contending political parties, security and other stakeholders wa said to have shifted to Kebbe and Gada respectively due to the high number of polling units in the areas.

The two local governments have the largest concentration of registered voters for 35 and 29 polling units respectively totaling 64.