Voters Stranded As Soldiers Enforce Restrictions In Osogbo

……Many voters got stranded on Saturday as armed soldiers enforced a restriction order in Osogbo, Osun State, preventing them from moving to their polling units.

The affected electorate, mainly those living around Owode, Ede, were held up in front of the Osun State House of Assembly for flouting the restriction order.

…..The soldiers refused all entreaties by the voters, who displayed their permanent voters’ cards when newsmen arrived in the area.

The lawmaker representing Osogbo State Constituency, Taofeek Badmus, who is seeking reelection, was observed pleading with the soldiers to allow the people to move.

One of the voters, Mr Tajudeen Olajide, while speaking with our correspondent, said he was living in Ede, and wanted to move to Osogbo to vote, when the soldiers stopped his vehicle.

….He said, “I am living in Owode Area (Ede) and I wanted to move to Osogbo to vote. I wanted to move very early in the morning and despite that, soldiers stopped me there. I have been here since 5 am and yet they won’t allow me to move with my vehicle.

“I was given the option of moving without my vehicle but my polling unit is not nearby. I can’t trek down. Help us plead with them.”

…..Top security personnel, who were also on election duty in the state, said the soldiers had been properly briefed about their duty, adding that restriction of movement was in order to prevent hoodlums from disrupting the poll.

(Punch)