Late arrival of INEC officials nearly mars exercise in Surulere Lagos
Sam Nzeh
This was noticed at Airways ward, code A polling booth 003 and 018 & other adjourning centres in Itire/Ikate LCDA in Surulere LGA, Lagos State.
They arrived at about 9.15am but voting only commenced at about 9.45am.
Interestingly, prospective voters had come out as early as 7am, hoping to be among the ones to first cast their votes.
Commenting on the late arrival of the INEC officials, they expressed displeasure, saying it could be plan to disenfranchise voters as the poll is expected to end by 2pm.
When asked reason for the late arrival, the polling officer said it was due to issues related to logistics at the ward collation centre. He appealed to voters to be patient, assuring that every one on the queue before the closing time of 2pm will be attended to.
It was observed however that the card readers malfunctioned as some points as they failed to recognise the cards but later picked up.
In order not to keep delaying the voters, the polling officers & party agents resolved that any person whose name & photo had be confirmed to be in the register should be allowed to vote.
As at the time of this report, no fewer than 200 persons had voted.
