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File: Damaged ballot box
Violence, vote-buying and low voter participation marred the by-elections conducted on Saturday in some states to fill vacant senatorial and House of Representatives’ seats.
The vacancies arose from the death and resignation of former occupants of the positions, prompting the Independent National Electoral Commission to declare the seats vacant.
According to INEC, a total of 3,553,659 registered voters were eligible to participate in the by-elections, distributed across 32 local government areas, 356 wards, and 6,987 polling units.
The by-elections were to hold in 12 states.
Ogun State
In Ogun State, the exercise took a dramatic turn when security operatives arrested two chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party and two others suspected to be INEC officials.
The suspects, including the state PDP chairman, Abayomi Tella, were arrested with large sums of cash allegedly meant for vote-buying during the Remo Federal Constituency House of Representatives by-election.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that the suspects were picked up in the early hours in a hotel in Iperu-Remo, Ikenne Local Government Area of the state.
In a viral video, the suspected INEC officials, who identified themselves simply as Constance and Amina, were seen squatting as security agents questioned them.
The officer interrogating them said intelligence reports indicated that the INEC staff had earlier been contacted and given a large sum of money by party officials for vote buying during the by-election.
A voice accompanying the video said, “At the early hours of today, August 16, 2025, these people, including two INEC staff, were arrested. The INEC staff were posted here for the House of Representatives by-election for the Remo Federal constituency.
“Rather than doing the right thing, they were found hobnobbing with the politicians, and this huge amount of money was found on the INEC man who claimed to have been contacted by his constituency supervisor to go and meet the politician.
“They are already giving police useful information on this case. The INEC man said that the people who gave him the money were in a hotel at Iperu Remo, and these three people, Jonathan, Akeem Oyinlola, and Abayomi Tella, were met in the hotel.”
However, Tella, the state PDP Chairman in the video, instantly distanced himself from the purported money found with the INEC staff.
He said, “I don’t know anything about this money you’re talking about and I am still waiting for you (the police) to tell me why I am here.”
Confirming the arrest, the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Ogunlowo, said the command had opened an investigation into the incident.
Ogunlowo disclosed this to Sunday PUNCH when asked to confirm the content of the video footage.
The CP said, “We are investigating the matter, that’s how much I can say for now. You may please call back later in the day for further information.”
However, the state PDP condemned the arrest of its chairman, which it described as intimidation and harassment backed by the security agencies to give the APC an upper hand in the election.
In a statement on Saturday, the Publicity Secretary of the party, Kayode Adebayo, said it was disheartening that the police and the DSS, who were entrusted with upholding law and order, had shown “clear complicity in these dastardly and cowardly acts.”
The party added that rather than apprehending the real perpetrators of the violence, security operatives turned their focus on harassing and victimising opposition parties. Punch
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