The early arrival of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), at polling units in different parts of the Awka metropolis marked the commencement of Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra State.
Voice of Nigeria’s correspondents visited Polling Unit 001, Ward 8, Demonstration Primary Scholl 2, Agu Awka, and Polling Units 021 and O22, Community Secondary School, Okpuno.
Also visited were Polling Units 002 and 003, Ebeiruofia 2, as well as Polling Units 013 and 014 Ebeiruofia all in Okpuno Ward.
At all the polling units visited, electoral officials arrived as early as 7.30 am and prepared for the arrival of voters.
Micheal Obidimma voted at Polling Unit 003, Ebeiruofia 2, Okpuno Ward. He said that the process of accreditation and voting was hitch free.
“The process is going very well,” Obidimma told Voice of Nigeria, adding “everything is working fine.”
BVAS Challenge
The working of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, has not been smooth at all the polling units visited.
While the BVAS machine worked well at Polling Units 003, 013 and 014 Ebeiruofia all in Okpuno Ward, it malfunctioned at Polling Unit 002, causing delay in the commencement of accreditation and voting.
Chief Daniel Chinweuba arrived early to vote at the Polling Unit 002, Ebeiruofia, but he had not cast his vote when Voice of Nigeria came to observe the exercise there about 9.05am.
He said; “I came pretty early at about some minutes before 8.00 am because we were told that voting will start at 8.00am, but up till now, I’ve not voted. The BVAS machine is not functioning. So, we are waiting for the BVAS machine to start working.”
However, Chief Chinweuba was optimistic that the exercise would commence immediately the BVAS machine began to function.
Low voter turnout
The turnout of voters for the exercise has been low in the polling units visited as only a few voters were seen.
However, the Councillor representing Okpuno Ward, Kenechukwu Nwankwo said that the low turnout of voters early in the day did not indicate that many people would not come out to vote later.
He said the 30 polling units in the Okpuno Ward usually witness large turnout of voters during elections.
“Everybody in Okpuno cannot come out at the same time, and because the exercise started early, many would take their time before coming out to vote.”
An election of observer, Abiodun Banjoko, expressed worry at the low turnout. Mr. Banjoko, who works with the Kimpact Development Initiative, said a lot of people did not come out to vote.
“With regard to citizens coming out to vote, it’s quite worrisome that there is still a low turnout of voters.
“Although there are some specific communities where there is a bit of crowd maybe leveraging on community mobilization; but overall I think the turnout been poor.
“I saw a couple of markets, shops, kiosks opened. Knowing that this is an election day, those businesses shouldn’t be in operation,” Banjoko, added.
Gender and disabled participation
On the participation of women and the disabled, Chukwuebuka Nwora, who also works as an observer, said that the participation of women has been a bit encouraging.
He said that provision was also made for easy passage of the disabled persons to access the polling units at the Community Secondary School, Okpuno.
He said that the Women Trust Fund, the organisation he works for, has over 200 field officers working as observers in the election.
According to him, no report has been recorded that suggests that participation of women and persons with disability has been inhibited in any way.
Security
The late arrival of security personnel delayed the commencement of the exercise at the Community Secondary School, Okpuno.
Mr. Banjoko of the Kimpact Development Initiative frowned at the absence of security personnel at the polling unit.
“We know the security agencies, the police, the NSCDC deployed over 45, 000, but going across the polling units this morning, there is really low presence of security,” he said.