A voter had made a bet with his friends to snatch the ballot box. However, as he made to carry out his bet, the policewoman present at the unit apprehended the fellow and saved the box.
A female officer of the Nigeria Police Force foiled an attempt to snatch a ballot box in ward 5, unit 15 at Ijem, Odo Oba, Abeokuta South in Ogun State.
A voter had made a bet with his friends to snatch the ballot box. However, as he made to carry out his bet, the policewoman present at the unit apprehended the fellow and saved the box.
According to our correspondent, who was at the polling unit, the man has since been handed over to the officers of the Department of State Service (DSS), who took him away.
In the buildup to the election, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari had said anyone who attempts to snatch ballot boxes does so at the risk of their lives.
“I'm going to warn anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system. He will do it at the expense of his own life,” Buhari had said.
He was heavily criticised for the comment.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) took a different view, stating that ballot box snatchers would be punished according to the law.
Mohammed Adamu also said election offenders would be arrested and punished according to the law.
He said: “In the course of voting, if any electoral offence is committed, we will work with the INEC officials to apprehend the culprit and we will set up an investigative team led by our Commissioner of Police to investigate such cases and prosecute them. Be it vote buying, ballot box snatching, thuggery, if you commit any of them, you will be arrested and prosecuted.”