A National Youth Corps member, Jamiu Aremu, who was part of the ad‑hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lagos State, has lamented the brutality he suffered at the hands of voters protesting the failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to upload results during the governorship and state House of Assembly elections. Aremu told Metro that the encounter left him with swollen, bruised lips and bloodied eyes, among other injuries.
Aremu and other INEC ad‑hoc staff were attending to votes at Polling Unit 082 in the Okota area when they experienced difficulties using the BVAS machine to upload the results. To ensure transparency, the corps member asked party agents at the polling unit to follow him to the INEC office, where an alternative method could be used. The agents did not oppose the suggestion, but the voters protested, accusing him of trying to manipulate the outcome by claiming the BVAS was faulty. As Aremu and his colleagues attempted to leave the polling unit for the INEC office, the angry voters descended on them.
“At the end of voting, I calculated the votes and gave the party agents their copies of the result. The situation became tense when we tried to start uploading the results. I don’t know what happened to the BVAS machine, but it was complaining about the camera quality. This happened around 9 p.m.; I assumed it was because it was dark. So I told them I could not upload the results and suggested the agents follow me to our centre to get it done there,” Aremu recounted. “Immediately after the announcement, I left with two colleagues to join the bus. Some voters cornered me and insisted I must upload the result. I tried to call the military officers accompanying us, but they could not hear me as they had also left with the buses. Then people started slapping me, seized my two phones and prevented me from calling for help. They also accused me of collecting N13 million to claim the machine was faulty.”
The angry voters took Aremu to a dark spot away from the polling unit and brutalised him. He was rescued only after policemen stormed the premises, firing two shots that dispersed the crowd. Military personnel soon arrived, and the police handed Aremu over to them. He was then taken to the INEC office in the Oshodi Local Government secretariat.
“There, I was told to go and treat myself and bring the medical bill. My face was swollen, and my eye was bloodied. I could not sleep that night; my body ached. The next day I went to a private hospital, but INEC officials told me to seek treatment at a government hospital. When I finally got there, I was asked to provide a police report, which I filed yesterday,” Aremu said.
INEC’s state spokesperson, Nike Oriowo, confirmed that the case was reported to the commission. “The Electoral Officer in Oshodi/Isolo Local Government said the corps member was attended to and given support. He was instructed to come to the office on Friday. We told our officers during a Wednesday meeting to look after the wellbeing of the corps members involved in the exercise. We will not allow any maltreated member to be left unattended. According to the electoral officer, the police have started investigating the incident,” Oriowo stated.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, could not be reached for comment; calls to his number went unanswered and a text message sent to his mobile remained unreplied at the time of this report.
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