Lagos Police Commissioner, Owohunwa Confirms Election Violence, Ballot Box Snatching By Thugs

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa has confirmed the attacks and electoral violence were recorded at some polling units during the governorship and states of assembly election in Lagos.

VerseNews Nigeria reports that the Commissioner during an interview with the Channel TV said there were instance violence and that they security agencies responded properly.

 “It is true that we’ve recorded instances of violence in some areas within the state. Not as widespread as to affect the general dynamics of the process,” he said.

He added that most of the instances were “properly responded to by the police because we anticipated them”.

“Yes, in some instances. As security practitioners, when you plan operations of this nature, you must anticipate that some elements will want to become adversaries in the process.

“We anticipated and then we integrated that into our general operational plan and we activated that protocol effectively in this instance. Most of those breaches, the police were able to respond promptly.”

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Speaking about the alleged incidents of ballot box snatching and a video of voters supposedly overpowering a young man alleged to have snatched a ballot box, Owohunwa said it is illegal to do such.

He confirmed that the young man who was reported dead on social media was rescued by police and that he is alive in a stable condition.

“That in itself is illegal; two wrongs cannot make a right. He’s stable; he’s not dead,”

He also confirmed that some of the ballots box were recovered and the arrest of many thugs in the state.

“In most of those cases of ballot box snatching, we recovered virtually all the ballot boxes,” he said.