The illegal thumbprinting was filmed by a Premium Times journalist at Polling Unit 001 in Ward 4, Odu- Ogbeyaga area of Dekina Local Government Area, the polling centre where the PDP candidate Musa Wada voted.
Although the video did not show clearly which party the ballots favoured, Premium Times said the man thumb printed in favour of the People’s Democratic Party and its candidate.
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VIDEO: #KogiDecides2019: Massive thumbprinting of ballot papers at PDP candidate’s polling unit http://bit.ly/2XuUDMR
VIDEO: KogiDecides: Massive thumbprinting of ballot papers at PDP candidate’s polling unit
The multiple voting was done on the table of the electoral officers with Police and Civil Defense officers present.
The man was alleged to have thumb printed about 50 ballot papers.
The video, seen by The Guardian, showed a man dressed in a floral shirt thumbprinting ballots in the full glare of others. The ballots were handed to him by persons suspected to electoral officials.
The ballot papers were handed to another man dressed in a sleeveless shirt and a pair of denim shorts, who then stuffed them in the box.
An official of the National Security and Defence Corps sat idly behind the electoral officials and watched.
The Independent National Electoral Commission cleared 24 candidates for the election. But PDP’s Wada, a younger brother of the state’s former governor Idris Wada, and the Kogi’s incumbent governor Yahaya Bello are the frontrunners in the election.
Other candidates such as the Social Democratic Party’s Natasha Akpoti and Aisha Audu of Young Progressives Party are also fairly popular.
The election has been widely marred my irregularities. The electoral body also indicated in its statement said the election in “several places” were affected by “thuggery and violence.”