Peter Obi Visits Woman Who Returned To Vote After Thugs Attacked Her At Polling Unit
The Labour Party candidate for the February 25 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi, has visited a Lagos woman, Mrs Jennifer Efidi, who was attacked by thugs while waiting for turn to cast the ballot.
After treatment in the hospital, she returned to her polling unit and voted.
Mr. Obi confirmed the visit in a Twitter thread on his verified handle.
He tweeted, “Today, I visited Mrs Jennifer Efidi. She was attacked on 25th February in an attempt to stop her from voting, but she stood her ground. Jennifer is one of the great icons of Nigeria’s democracy.
“She is my point of contact with every Nigerian who suffered a similar fate in their bid to exercise their voting rights, and contribute to a new Nigeria. Like many Nigerians, I acknowledge her bravery and resoluteness.
“Jennifer is a true manifestation of Profiles in Courage for a new Nigeria. – PO”
Jennifer Efidi, the Lagos State resident, was attacked by thugs at the Nuru/Oniwo Ward, Polling Unit 065, in Surulere while waiting to vote on Saturday, February 25.
According to media reports, the first time voter while going out on that day, she never thought she would return home defaced as she did.
Narrating her ordeal, Efidi stated that while she was waiting for her turn to vote, she saw a group of “strange-looking boys” who were observing her and other voters in the queue, before walking down the street.
As she waited to vote while pressing her phone, Efidi said she felt a “huge impact” on her face and heard a gunshot, as people began running helter-skelter. When she held her face, she noticed that blood was dripping down her hand as she managed to stand up and cry for help.
Like other Nigerian youths whose hope of a country they can be proud of was dashed by the crop of politicians whose leadership style leaves much to be desired, Efidi avoided previous general elections like a plague.
The graduate of Niger-Delta University said that what seemed like a peaceful exercise became a scene from a horror movie in a few seconds when some unidentified persons pretending to be voters unleashed mayhem at the polling unit.
“After an hour, I really didn’t notice anything. But suddenly, I just felt a huge impact on my face and simultaneously, I heard a gunshot. At that moment, I felt I had been shot. I felt it was a bullet because I held my face and noticed blood dripping; blood was just gushing out and I was shouting and asking for help.
“My second eye was open and I could see that people were running away; everybody that sighted me screamed and ran away and I ran into the building where our polling unit was until a woman held me and used the handkerchief she had to put pressure on my face but that couldn’t stop the bleeding.
“Yes, it was that much,” the woman attacked by thugs added with unmistakable tremor in her voice.
In her determination to conclude what she started when she stepped out of her apartment motivated her to return to the polling unit and exercise her right to vote.
“Afterward, I was taken to the hospital where the cuts were stitched. On our way back, we had to pass the polling unit to my house and we noticed that voters had reconvened and voting had resumed about two hours after the incident.
“At that point, when I saw that, I felt that this was what I wanted to do to make my votes count, and despite all my struggles, getting registered, collecting the PVC, coming out there to vote, and having been afflicted this much, I had to cast my vote.
“My husband supported me and said I should go down and cast my vote. That was the only thing that could make me fulfilled and after I did, I felt that fulfillment,” Mrs Jennifer Efidi had narrated.
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