FORMER Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Rwanda, Adamu Onoze Shuaibu, said Abaji area Council recorded high voter turnout because of sensitisation and understanding of voter participation in the poll.
The former ambassador, an Abaji indigene, told The ICIR during the Area Council chairmanship and councillorship election on Saturday, February 21, that Abaji was witnessing high voter awareness “because of inclusive democracy, which previous chairmen have encouraged.”
He said many voters came as early as 6:30 am to polling stations to prepare to cast their vote and were willing to stay late into the night to exercise their franchise.
He added that election officials gave priority to the elderly, pregnant women, and persons with disability. This, he noted, encouraged many aged persons to come out and cast their votes.
“As a senior citizen and retired Ambassador, I have also decided to cast my ballot as a way of encouraging development in my community and supporting democratic development,” he said.
The ICIR reports that several polling units in Abaji recorded massive voter turnout with several elderly, pregnant women and people with disability exercising their franchise right.
In Polling Unit 007 located at Onah of Abaji Palace, The ICIR saw several elderly persons, and breastfeeding mothers who queued to cast their votes despite the scorching sun.
At Central Primary School, Abaji, Polling Unit 006, the crowd was very massive that the supervisory election commissioner for the Abaji area council, Bunmi Omoseyindemi, had to assure non-accredited voters that they would be attended to even beyond the 2:30 p.m voting was expected to close.
With the current Ramadan fast, The ICIR also observed voters with sleeping mats around who occasionally went to a nearby stand to rest and returned to cast their vote.
“The indigenes and others who reside here are interested in voting. There is a huge voter awareness,” a restaurant owner, Ikenna Ugonabo, a non-indigene who resides in Abaji, told The ICIR.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.