VOTERS at Polling Unit 045 designated for People Living With Disabilities (PLWDs) in Abuja have expressed frustration over the absence of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) polling officers.
The ICIR toured the colony for PLWDs in Karo Majigi area of Abuja and confirmed absence of INEC officials at 10:15 am.
An election observer for the PLWDs, Yakubu Victor said: “INEC are supposed to be here by 08:00 AM and PLWDs left their beds as early as 06:00 AM so that they can vote on time and go back home but and up till now we have not seen any INEC official or election materials.
“I have been trying calm them hoping that INEC will arrive here soon but many of them have gone back to their houses”.
Photo credit: Fatunbi Olayinka/ICIR
Victor also said it was frustrating that there was no communication from the electoral umpire.
“We don’t know what is going on”, he said.
Earlier, The ICIR reported how a group, the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) asked INEC to accord priority voting to pregnant women, nursing mothers, the elderly and PLWDs.
The group maintained that the Electoral Act 2022 made provisions for priority voting for these categories of voters.
Sinafi Omanga works as a multimedia and investigative reporter at the International Centre for Investigative Reporting - ICIR. He has a keen interest in accountability, health and environmental issues.
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@OmangaSinafi
Email:
somanga@icirnigeria.org