Petitioners dump Dino’s recall, as apathy, low turnout mar verification

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THE verification of constituents that signed recall petition of the senator representing Kogi west senatorial district, Dino Melaye, was on Saturday marred with apathy and low turnout in the seven local government areas of the district.

The exercise was however peaceful throughout the district as no violence was recorded in the affected local government areas.

Apart from this, some voters in Lokoja local government area came to the verification centres and denied being part of the exercise, saying their signatures were forged on the petition.

However, some of the polling units in Odokoro ward, Ijumu local government area witnessed large turnout as many voters were still in the queue as at 1 pm.

Also in Ole/Oke-Ofin ward in Kabba/Bunu local government area, there was a noticeable turnout of people that came out for the verification.

In Okedayo, Kabba/Bunu, there was complete apathy as people voters in two polling units in St Peter’s Primary School did not come out for exercise.

At the Oworo Ward 8 Unit 4 Lokoja, where 3,340 are listed as registered voters, as at 12.37 noon, confirmed that out of the 815 petitioners on the recall list, no one had come out for the verification exercise.

At Oworo Ward 8, Unit 12, with 1,005 voters, and 512 on the recall petition list, 40 petitioners presented for the verification as at 12.08 noon, in an exercise that commenced at 8 am and billed to end by 2 pm.

In Kogi local government area, polling unit 003, 18 out of the 440 petitioners on the recall list appeared for the verification as at 11 am.

The exercise was yet to commence at the Lokongoma/Phase1 polling unit, where INEC officials were observed pasting voters register list as at 10 am, with none in sight.

One of the officials explained that pockets of petitioners had come to check their names, but that none had come forward for verification.

A registered voter at the polling unit on the premises of the Lokoja Club, Samuel Olokotun protested the appearance of his wife’s name on the petitioners’ list, saying that his wife was never a signatory to the petition, threatening to sue those so involved.

Another voter, who simply identify himself Thomas went emotional when he said her daughter that died in 2016 was included as one of the petitioners.

The man wrote on his Facebook wall, “I had a bad experience today, the evil men behind Dino recall open up my old wounds today, my late daughter, miss Thomas faith that dead on July 18, 2016, at FMC Lokoja her name was among the petitioners her name is in number 729 on that evil list, her voters card is still with me, how do (sic) they got the VIN number? is it her ghost that came to sign without the voters’ card? Whosoever did this will see hell”.

At Okwo-Okoriko polling unit, a National Youth Corps Service (NYSC) member and ad-hoc-staff for the verification exercise, Ibrahim Eraku said, “Ours is not to confirm whether the signature is right or on t, but to confirm whether their name is on the petition list and if it also appears on the voters register. The constituent then counters signs.

“Ours is not to confirm whether the signature corresponds or not; it also INEC that will deal with that”.