The poor turnout that marred the July 24th, 2021 Ogun State Local Elections held across the state could be attributed to the massive boycott of the political parties.
Many of the journalists from different media organisations including Newsnigeriaonline.com.ng. who monitored the elections in all the three senatorial districts in Ogun noticed the poor turnout which has been described worst in the history of local government elections in the state.
Moreover, at almost all the pilling booths where the elections were held, only All Progressives Congress (APC) party agents were at the booth while all other political parties agents were no where near the voting centres.
For instance, at Yewa North Local Government, Yewa South, Ado-Odo Ota and many others in Ogun West Senatorial District, only the ruling APC party agents were sighted at the looking booths just as no other agents could be identified not sighted.
Similarly, reports from other media men who reported from Ogun East and Ogun Central were of no different as voting apathy was order of the day across the voting centres.
This development became glaring to the extent that supporters of the other political parties used the opportunity to relax at home having known where the tide would eventual fall into at the end of the exercise.
Meanwhile, on his part, Chairman of the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC), Mr. Babatunde Osibodu described that the elections as peaceful, adding that the exercise witnessed massive turnout across the state, which necessitated the extension of the voting hour to 3pm.
Osibodu in a press statement while monitoring the exercise in Wards 11, Polling Unit 19, Sodeke, Isale- Ijeun , and Ward 12, Polling Unit 015, Ibara, all in Abeokuta South Local Government, commended the people for the large turn out.
“The turnout for the election is quite encouraging, and because of the large turnout, we have extended the end of voting from 2:00 pm to 3:00pm, in order not to disenfranchise anyone,” Osibodu said.
