Nigerians at venue of Registration For Voter Cards
By Our Reporter
The Nigeria Police Force, Lagos State Command, has reacted to attacks on Igbo traders at the Ojo local government area after shutting down the Alaba International market to enable them register and obtain their Permanent Voter’s Card on Thursday.
Recall that political thugs were seen in so many videos that had gone viral on social media throwing stones on Igbo traders who came out for the civic exercise at Ojo and Igbede areas.
At some places, the traders were asked to go back to their states to register, adding that the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC could only register South-Westerners.
But the Lagos State Police Command said that the attack was not about Igbos.
The Command’s spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin in reaction posted on his Twitter handle @BenHundeyin stated “First, this wasn’t about Igbos.”
He added that though the entire Alaba International Market decided to close down today to enable the traders register for their PVCs, a phased closure would have been better.
Hundeyin said, “First, this wasn’t about Igbos. These are the true facts behind the trending videos. The entire Alaba International Market decided to close the market today to enable the traders register for their PVCs.
“A phased closure would have been better. Consequently, the Ojo Local Government venue of the registration was besieged by a mammoth crowd. The situation was made worse by the fact that only one registration terminal was working. One of the people who came for registration made trouble and was challenged by those around.
“Going by simple probability, the attacker or the attacked is very likely to be Igbo. They were simply large in number. However, giving this incident ethnic coloration would not help matters.
“The entire episode lasted a few minutes. Sadly, recordings from those few minutes are still travelling far and wide. Normalcy has since returned and the Divisional Police Officer there is fully in charge of the security situation.”
Meanwhile, Nigerians Twitter users have reacted to the attack, describing it as unfortunate.
A Twitter user who goes by Made In Ilorin $ftm with Twitter handle @ketoolarewaju1 tweeted,
“Would have been better? Na ur market dey wan sell. They can decide to do anything.”
Another Twitter user with Twitter handle@D_Emiola tweeted,
“Take a moment and think.. If the whole market closed down completely and thousands of people went to get their PVC, knowing there is only one registration point, what good does it do to their quest??”
