By Segun Amure(Abuja Bureau with report from Delta state Correspondent)
The Saturday’s local council election in Delta State was allegedly marred by cases of undemocratic acts, irregularities including reported allegations of ballot stuffing and violence.
A 1:33-minute video which surfaced online revealed the extent of alleged cases of attempts by persons suspected to be election hijackers to allegedly undermine the true will of the people in Delta state.
In the video, a number of youths were seen with ballot box and papers in front of an unidentified building that has no semblance of a designated polling unit in Delta state.
The group which comprised 6 males and a female were all seen in the video participating in the act of ballot stuffing, purportedly being supervised by an official of the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) manifestly wearing the commission’s vest.
A member of the group was sighted in the video thumb printing on several ballot papers before stuffing them in the box as his accomplices in the crime look on with happiness.
They were heard exchanging words like: “Please, let’s do anything possible. Should we punish him or should we scatter his motor. The one that we have pressed is okay.”
The identities of the persons involved in this act have not been known neither was the party or the individual they are allegedly working for as at the time of filing this report .
However, The New Diplomat’s team who monitored the election in several local governments in Delta had earlier reported that ballot papers and results sheet were said to be missing in many wards and polling units visited.
Reports also revealed the non-availability of result sheets in polling units and collation centres as they were allegedly hoarded away by the DSIEC in alleged with connivance with agents of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), according to the All Progressives Congress(APC) chapter of Delta State.
This development, according to the APC compelled it to pull out of Saturday’s Council polls in Delta State. Also, in places where result sheets were available, the opposition party alleged they were fake.
Following a prior protest by the party agents who insisted on seeing the result sheets before the commencement of the exercise, our correspondents reported that the DSIEC officials on ground appealed to the agents to go to their various wards and units to commence the process of accreditation and voting, assuring them they would supply the result sheets whenever they arrived.
