MORE than 24 hours after the commencement of the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections, voters in Lagos and Delta states have lamented the absence of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials and electoral materials in some polling units.
Speaking on Arise TV on Sunday, February 26, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Eti-Osa Federal Constituency, Olubankole Wellington (Banky W) alleged that INEC has disenfranchised voters in the area.
Wellington stressed that despite the extension of the election in some places across the country INEC officials and electoral materials have not been seen in many polling units in Eti-Osa.
“From morning till evening yesterday (Saturday) no INEC official showed up. There was a communication that came up today that voting will happen between 8:00 am and 12:00 pm, we have been here since morning to ask the INEC officials when they are sending officials and materials to this polling units so that people can exercise their civic rights.”
He further claimed that electoral officers in Eti-Osa revealed that a directive has not been given by INEC to proceed with the election in the affected polling units.
“They told us that they have not received any directive to go out and conduct any election. The same people who were out yesterday all day have been waiting in the sun for INEC to come yet INEC has not shown up but they want to go ahead with the collation of votes in all the wards in Eti-Osa without addressing those that have not voted.
“The electoral officer, Mrs Folayemi, has been telling us that they are waiting for a directive from the national body to go ahead and we are waiting,” he said.
The candidate of the PDP for the constituency also lamented that there were cases of violence, suppression, disenfranchisement and manipulation in many polling units.
“There are multiple polling units where there were suppression, violence and disruption and we have pieces of evidence and by law those polling units where those things happened, election should be cancelled.”
Another voter who spoke to Arise TV in Delta State, Happy Iwere, said electoral materials have been provided for some polling units to exercise their franchise.
“There were no materials yesterday till 6:00 pm. Later on, we saw materials passing through but none of them come to this particular ward – Ward 5 Unit 12. We were all angry both young and old that we couldn’t vote yesterday.
“Today, we are equally waiting again to see whether materials will come but we want to appeal to the authorities in charge of this election to know why they refused to bring material to this polling unit to exercise our franchise.
“If they refuse to bring electoral material to this particular ward, the people in this ward will be unhappy with the government because they were deprived of their rights to exercise their franchise.
“The government should do something about it. We want to elect leaders of our choice, we don’t want somebody to be handpicked. Materials should come and INEC should give us a reason why they refuse to provide electoral materials for us to vote,” he added.
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