Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State joined millions of Nigerians in exercising his civic duty by casting his vote at the Garkar Mai Alelu polling unit Nassarawa II Birnin Kebbi.

The Governor expressed appreciation for the large turnout of voters as well as the peaceful conduct of the voting process in the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

Speaking to journalists after voting, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu expressed joy about the good conduct of voters and thanked the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies for ensuring the peaceful conduct of the election.

He acknowledged complaints of the late arrival of election materials to some polling units in the state which delayed the commencement of the voting.

The Governor commended Nigerians for exercising their civic right of electing of a new president, and members of the senate and house of representatives for the next four years.

Similarly, the two wives of Governor Hajiya Aisha Atiku Bagudu and Dr Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu also voted at Garkar Mai Alelu, Nasarawa II polling unit.

In an interview with journalists after voting, they both expressed happiness about the large turnout of voters especially women, urging women and youth to remain patient, courageous and law-abiding as they cast their vote.

Hajiya Aisha and Dr Zainab commended INEC for introducing the BVAS machine which has helped in improving the smooth conduct of the voting exercise.

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Buni Yadi and Buni Gari under Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State had a reasonable turnout of voters for the presidential and National Assembly elections.

The arrival of the State Governor Mala Buni to his polling unit sent the crowd of voters that gathered at the at Balturam Yerima 004 Polling Unit in Buni Gari, Gujba Local Government Area into a frenzy.

Shortly after casting his votes, Governor Buni spoke with journalists and expressed satisfaction with the level of preparedness by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC for the voting process and how peaceful it has been.

He commended the electoral body for the introduction of what he termed “innovation”, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS for the elections.

“It has actually helped in the area of ease of accreditation and the entire process. My general assessment is that so far so good, the peaceful nature of the conduct is commendable and more especially, I am impressed because when you look at this community it was one of the communities that were totally wiped by the carnage of the Boko Haram insurgency you can even say it was the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency in Yobe state but today you can see for yourselves that people are going about their normal businesses and especially today people are out to exercise their civic responsibility, so this is quite encouraging”

Governor Buni equally expressed delight with the fact that his people are now able to vote in their ancestral communities unlike in the past when they were in IDP camps voting outside their communities.

In the state capital, Damaturu, there were hitches experienced as some of the polling units started well behind schedule, some as a result of the late arrival of officials of INEC while others were as a result of a mix-up of the wrong BVAS machines meant for different units.

With this nonetheless, voters that turned out still waited patiently in the polling units that had such difficulties till the voting process started.

Similarly, the Emir of Damaturu, Alhaji Hashimi ll El-kenemi, cast his vote peacefully at Mairi 005 Polling Unit in Damaturu, located just beside the palace.

The El-kenemi, who spoke with newsmen thereafter, commended INEC for improvement in the electoral process and called on the commission to maintain the feat.

Overall, the town of Damaturu and some of the surrounding towns visited were very peaceful, calm and well secured as security agencies were mounted at strategic positions.

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Voting is still ongoing in Akwa-Ibom state, Southern Nigeria.

Governor Udom Emmanuel who voted, expressed his delight over the peaceful conduct of the election.

The governor arrived his polling unit at Awa ward 1, Onna local government at 10:30 am local time where he voted.

Speaking to Journalists after casting his votes he said the security measures put in place yielded results as the election was peaceful and cases of violence were not reported.

“We put everything in place, all the security apparatus we have, so we sat more than once to do a security mapping, do adequate planning and put up a tactical plan to also cope with emergencies and today I think it’s working well because I get briefed every 30 minutes.”

Speaking on the malfunctioning of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System BVAS as reported in some local governments, the governor indicated that there were a few cases reported in the state and it was due to human error in cases where the officials forgot the password of the BVAS.

According to him, this technology is novel and it will take time to get used to it.

“There are some units and there are some wards who are complaining that the BVAS is not functioning well but there is one they just complained and I just discovered that probably the person missed the password.

“There is a local government they called me that two wards could not vote, by the time we checked we discovered that the people that that were sent there forgot the password so a lot of this complains we need to really really check and find out whose is fault.”

The governor added that INEC shouldn’t take total blame of the malfunctioning of the BVAS, however, they should have exposed the staff to this technology because they recruited and trained them.

Governor Udom made an appeal to INEC to extend the time of voting, mostly to centres that experienced issues with the BVAS in order to give people enough time to vote. He also called on people who are at the centres not to leave because when they are at the unit they would be attended to.

The governor advised the citizens to maintain peace in the state during and after election and also expressed his hope to have a president that will love Nigeria the way he does as this is capable of bringing change and transformation in the country within 2 years.