Election Materials Arrive Late in Bauchi, Card Reader’S Battery Low

Voters in Tafawa Balewa Local Government area of Bauchi State turned out en-masse for accreditation, but election materials arrived late as officials tried to locate their polling centres.

When our correspondent visited some polling units in Gabas polling unit located at the Central Primary School, within the council as at 8:00am, he observed that only two elections officials and security officers had arrived.

The Presiding Officer of the Polling Unit, a youth corps member, Bayo Adeyemi, arrived with the election materials at 8:36am and explained that no arrangement was made for them at the INEC Registration Area Center (RAC) with code 06 WAI for their transport.

He said: “We left Bununu (Tafawa Balewa LGA new headquarters) this morning for Gori which is our RAC around 1am. When we got there, no arrangement had been made for us to get our materials.

“There was no light and we had to buy fuel at that time for the generator. It was after then that we could charge the Smart Card Reader devices.”

The presiding officer informed further: “No vehicular arrangement was made for us. That was why we arrived with the materials late. We had to make an arrangement early this morning for the bus that brought us.”

He said the Polling Unit had been split into four voting points 026, 027, 028A and 028B for easy accreditation and voting but observed that the officials and the residents were having difficulty in locating their voting Points.
While at Mariam Kudu I, located at Vocational Training College, only 25 people were accredited as at 10:36 am. In Yamma ‘B’ only one voter had been accredited as the presiding Officer was having difficulty with the Card Reader device.
In Dass Local Government Area of the state, at polling unit 009, Barde, kofar Sarki as at 11:31 in the morning, the battery strength of the card reader in use was 59 per cent with 177 voters accredited.