Two die, scores injured in botched poll

Two persons were killed and over 50 injured last Friday during collation of primary election results at Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government in Lagos.

Rilwan Musa (a.k.a. Apata) and AbdulQuadri Adebayo (a.k.a. Uche) were shot dead when hoodlums allegedly working for a party leader opened fire during collation of results of House of Assembly primary organised by All Progressives Congress (APC).

The aspirants are a former lawmaker, who is seeking a return to the chamber, Abdoulbaq Ladi Balogun and Fatai Olatunji Oluwa.

Results from the nine wards showed that Balogun scored 2,277 votes to defeat Oluwa, who got 893 votes.

Reacting to the results, the party leader was allegedly heard ordering the hoodlums to “shoot-at-sight.”

“Immediately, the man gave the order, the hoodlums opened fire on everybody inside the council secretariat. People  scampered for safety. Many, who sustained gunshot injuries, were taken to hospitals. Unfortunately, all hospitals, including private ones, were not opened. Some were taken to traditional medical attendants to remove the bullets, others were rushed to medical centres outside the council’s coverage area,” Abdullahi Omobolaji said.

The Nation learnt yesterday Musa died in front of Ajeromi Police Station, while Adebayo died in Lagos Island General Hospital.

Musa Abubakar, who was at the council, said he overheard the leader ordering his boys to shoot.

Abubakar said: “We were protesting that the victory of Balogun should not be subverted. We have the results of the wards, which showed that Balogun won the primary election. Those hoodlums were at the council secretariat with broken bottles, cutlasses and knives. They threatened everybody, but many did not panic. Later I saw the party leader on a motorcycle telling one of the hoodlums  on the phone to “shoot-at-sight.”

“Immediately, another person who heard him, sent a message to different WhatsApp groups that the man just ordered his boys to shoot people that gathered at the council secretariat. That was around 3 pm. Not quite long, we just heard the sound of gun and people started running. Bullets hit many of them.”

The late Musa’s brother, Adi Azeez, said after retrieving Musa’s body from the spot near the police station, he was taken to hospital with the hope that he could be revived.

“I was here in Alayabiagba when they brought him (Musa) and we took him to the General Hospital. We asked after the doctor, but the nurses said he was not around. There, it was confirmed that Musa is dead. We saw Adebayo on the floor writhing in pains, we quickly took him to other hospitals, but we were not attended to. We even went to Ajifat Hospital at Orege; no one attended to us in all the hospitals in Ajegunle.

“We later took Adebayo to Lagos Island General Hospital where we were attended to. At the hospital, the doctor told us that he would have to perform surgery on him. They were about taking him to the theatre, but he died,” Azeez said yesterday.