Late or non-arrival of electoral materials, last-minute replacement of the names of ad-hoc staff and protests have marred the start of the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly elections in several parts of the country. Whereas the exercise took off smoothly in places such as President Muammadu Buhari’s Katsina State, reports from several other parts of the country indicated otherwise. One common complaint was that neither officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nor electoral materials were on ground as at 8am when simultaneous accreditation and voting was scheduled to start.
In Lagos, a seasoned journalist and communications expert, Muyiwa Akintunde, wrote in a WhatsApp group: “8:40am. 3 polling units around my residence in Sogunle/Alasia ward of Oshodi/Isolo LGA of Lagos State. No sight of INEC officials yet.” Similarly complaints came from other parts of the state, including Ikeja, Badagry and Lagos Island. From outside Lagos, similar reports came from Anambra, Abia and Bayelsa states. A News Express Special Correspondent in Anambra State reported that no INEC officials or materials had been sighted in Ogbaru and environs as at 9:30 a.m.
“At Fegge, where I am supposed to vote, the card reader is not functioning. People are gathered to vote but cannot do so,” he said. The Special Correspondent reported protests elsewhere in the state by National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members registered as INEC ad-hoc staff. “They arrived for work, only to find that their names have been replaced. Soldiers, Police and DSS operatives have calmed the situation,” he said. Similar reports came from across the border in Imo State.
From Abia, it was the same complaints of absence of INEC officials and no electoral materials in parts of the commercial town of Aba. The election, however, seems to have taken off smoothly in many parts of the North. In Katsina, the exercise took off promptly in Daura and President Buhari was among the early voters. In Adamawa State, Buhari’s main challenger, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was about to vote as at the time of filing this report at 10am.
Source News Express
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