Hamzat, Lagos Dep Gov, slams claims of widespread violence during elections

Amid claims of widespread violence during the recently-concluded governorship elections in Lagos State, the Deputy Governor of the state, Obafemi Hamzat, has slammed critics who seek to discredit the process.

Hamzat spoke on Tuesday during a Channels TV programme “Sunrise Daily.”

The Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Idowu Owohunwa, had disclosed that several arrests had been made regarding electoral violence recorded in some parts of the state during the polls.

The Commissioner made the disclosure on Saturday while speaking with journalists on the conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.

“I can confirm that several arrests have been made but at this moment it is still an ongoing process. So, I cannot conclusively say this is the number of polling units violence was recorded, but at the end of the day we will do a post-election evaluation and come up with specifics,” CP Owohunwa said.

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However, the Lagos police chief said the instances of violence were isolated, noting that the polls were mostly peaceful in the state.

Corroborating the Police Chief, Hazmat stated that the violence was confined to less than one percent of the total polling units in the state, so it was dishonest to make claims about widespread violence.

He said, “We have less than one per cent polling units that has issues and which should not diminish our country by saying it is violent. The government will ensure that the culprits who engaged in electoral violence will be punished.

“If you look at the Gov’s acceptance speech, he reinforced that Lagos is not about bigotry and tribalism considering we have Igbos in the civil service — this does not happen in any state. We have consultative forums of different ethnic groups across all LGAs in order to foster harmony.

“Of course, there would be people who will break the rules and they will be punished to serve as deterrents to others.”

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