A popular food blogger and YouTuber, Yemisi Odusanya, known by many as SisiYemmie, has claimed that she was prevented from voting in the ongoing governorship and state assembly elections in Lagos State because she looks like “Igbo people”.
Odusanya, in a series of tweets on Saturday, narrated how she and her husband were turned back by suspected political thugs when they arrived at their polling units to exercise their voting rights.
According to her, so many other people are being denied access to voting, either because they look like the Igbos or because they may vote against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
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In the video shared by the food blogger, a voice could be heard in the background saying “You are Igbo”, adding “even if you were born in Lagos, you’re not an indigene of Lagos”
Sharing a video on Twitter, she wrote “My husband and I were not allowed to vote. They said we look like Igbo people. I can’t believe this. Roman Catholic Church Awoyaya
“And yes, they asked if I was going to vote APC, I said allow me to enter first. Then they locked the gate. So many of them.”
The election in Lagos has so far been marred by reports of voter suppression and violence, just as was seen during the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections.
Igbos in Lagos are believed to be the cause of APC’s defeat in the presidential election that was held in the state, where the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, beat a former governor of the state and president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Earlier, the Lagos State Parks Management Committee Chairman, Musiliu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo, had earlier warned that anyone who doesn’t intend to vote for the APC in the election should remain indoors.
But the spokesperson of the Nigeria Police, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, dismissed MC Oluomo’s threat as mere jokes.
“This person involved, MC Oluomo himself, I saw a video he did with one Igbo woman whose name was mentioned in the video of the threat, that it is not true. That he was making a joke with one particular woman and the woman came up to say it is not true. They are just throwing banters. It is a joke.
“So let us take it like a joke as he has said. He has come out to debunk that it is not true. Let us leave it that way that it is not true. It is a joke between two persons in that area at that particular point in time,” he said.