Officials blame late sorting, counting of votes on delay in materials

Sorting and counting of ballots for the Presidential and National Assembly elections in some polling units along Airport Road, Abuja, commenced late on Saturday. Presiding officers in some of the units attributed the development to delay in arrival of voting materials that led to delay in accreditation and voting in those areas. The Presiding Officer in ward 008, Lugbe, Hilary Sefeigha, said the accreditation started at around 11a.m and voting ended some minutes to 7 p.m, while sorting and counting started immediately. The presiding officer for Zhidu polling unit, Friday Ekpa, said the voting started late due to late arrival of voting materials, adding that electorate had to be given the hours lost before they could end voting. He said the voters cast their ballots till 5:45p.m so as not to deprive them of their opportunities, while sorting and counting of votes were yet to commence at around 6:45p.m in Polling Unit 003, Pyakasa At Aleyita polling centre, voting ended at 5:30p.m, while sorting of ballots started at 5:36p.m NAN reports that counting of ballots are still in progress in some of the units as at time of filling the report Meanwhile, party supporters were watching with keen attention as other voters were hanging around waiting for the poll results. However, security operatives have strategically positioned themselves to ward-off possible breaches. (NAN)