There was chaos at the City Engineers polling station in the Odododiodoo Constituency in the Greater Accra Region after some voters budged into the centre despite the presence of security officers.
The voters who had formed a long queue in front of the main entrance to the centre forced themselves into the polling station.
Security officers had a difficult time controlling the crowd as they were overpowered by the impatient voters who had been in the queue since the early hours of Monday, December 7, 2020.
Electoral officials supervising the process were also helpless in calming the crowd.
However, after forcibly getting to the station, some voters engaged in fisticuffs as they were unable to rearrange themselves into the queues they had already formed outside the main entrance.
Citi News‘ Nii Ayikwei Okine who was at the scene reported that some disgruntled voters alleged that the EC and security officers were circumventing the process by allowing persons who had not joined the queue into the premises.
“We came here at dawn to form the queue, but after hours of staying here, the officers will just come and allow some persons in. The police officers are not doing anything about it, they are just here looking on without taking any action. They are not giving us the opportunity to get in that is why we had to force our way in”, one of the voters lamented.
“The police cannot manage the situation here. This is Ododiodioo and you know the situation here. The police are unable to manage the situation properly”, another voter intimated.
Meanwhile, a police reinforcement team from the James Town Divisional Police Command was able to restore law and order at the Centre.
The James Town District Police Commander, DSP Alexander Tieku called for calm and ensured that more will be done to ensure an incident-free poll.
“When we came in we saw a chaotic situation. Some people were not observing social distancing so that is what we wanted to ensure that is done. That is why we are asking them to go back so that there will be some space. That is why we called for reinforcement to assist us. We have brought a lot of personnel here to assist us so, by and large, we are trying to maintain law and order”, he promised.
Pre-election clash at Ododiodioo
The constituency is one of the Greater Accra Region’s known hotspots.
It will be recalled that supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Sunday, October 25, 2020, clashed at Jamestown leaving 15 persons wounded after the attack.
Supporters of the two parties were engaged in a bloody clash that left supporters of both parties injured.
The clash occurred in the course of a health walk by the NDC in the constituency.
There was a misunderstanding between a group of young men at an area known as Blue Gate which resulted in the throwing of stones and bottles.
Videos in circulation showed some persons in party colours throwing stones, bottles, and other projectiles on a street at each other.