Threats to vote: Lawyer asks voters to arm themselves

Threats to vote: Lawyer asks voters to arm themselves

A lawyer, Malcolm Omirhobo, has urged the electorate to turn out en masse on Saturday, 18 March 2023 governorship and state assembly elections and urged them to arm themselves in case thugs should attack them.

Omirhobo said this on the heels of Musiliu Akinsanya, aka, MC Oluomo threatening anyone who desires to vote against a certain political party not to come out but should stay in their houses to avoid dire consequences.

The lawyer in the post on his Twitter handle, @MalcolmInfiniti, said: “If you are threatened by thugs go to your polling booths armed with 2 by 2,2 by 4 planks, iron rods, bottles, licenced guns, knives, daggers and cutlasses to defend their votes. Nobody or a group of persons have the sole monopoly on violence. #Defend yourself and vote.”

According to him, M C Oluomo’s unabated threat to voters is unbecoming and unacceptable. He added that the Nigeria police is T/4 put on notice to act or be held accountable should there be any form of unlawful violence against voters during the gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections on Saturday.

However, MC Oluomo who is the chairman of the Lagos State Parks and Management was allegedly caught in a viral video threatening to deal with any Igbo person who goes to a particular polling unit to vote.

Though the PU was not specified, commenters on the video say the incident happened somewhere in the Oshodi area where MC Oluomo holds sway.

He had said: “I repeat am again. Any Igbo wey dem born well, make him come vote for here. Shebi I dey here. If dem born dem well, make dem come vote for here.” The person said to be Oluomo insisted in the 15 seconds of video as police officers try to calm him down.

Meanwhile, a voter in Ifako, in the Ifako Ijaiye Local Government Area of Lagos State, told our correspondent that though nobody had come to his house or his neighbourhood to threaten them to vote for a particular candidate, he noted that they were poised to resist any form of violence against such violence people on Saturday’s governorship/house of assembly elections.

He said: “Nobody has a monopoly on violence. Lagos does not belong to one man or a few individuals. We are Lagosians. We are not kids; we have seen what has been happening in Lagos since 1999.

“If they know that they mean violence, let them come.”

Additionally, callers on NigeriaInfo programme have blamed the police for complicity. They noted that the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi’s response against the alleged threat by MC Oluomo to voters was spurious and with an element of acquiescence.

A caller, who wanted his identity to be concealed, asked if MC Oluomo is too big that the police could not invite him for questioning. “Is MC Oluomo too big for the police to invite him? This man has threatened the peace and continuous existence of Nigerians. If this were to happen in other parts of the country, we knew what the police would have done,” the caller said.