Chinelo Obogo
Compared to the presidential and National Assembly elections which were held on February 23, the governorship and House of Assembly elections had very low turnout in many polling units in Oshodi Isolo Local Government Area, Lagos.
Accreditation and voting officially commenced by 8am, but from 9am, most of the polling units visited by Sunday Sun within Jakande Estate, Oke-Afa, Isolo, Okota and Ilasa had very few voters present.
Olabisi Jimoh, a resident of Jakande Estate, Oke Afa, told our correspondent that he arrived at his polling unit located at the Low Cost Housing Estate primary School by 8.30am but there was no activity there.
“I arrived my polling unit by 8.30am to vote but the place is empty as you can see. I suspect that because of the violence that occured in the last elections, many eligible voters lost interest in coming out this time around,” Jimoh said.
But while many eligible voters stayed away from casting their ballots at the governorship polls, there was heavy military and police deployment in the area during governorship election compared to the presidential election. From Jakande Estate to Amuwo Odofin no fewer than 10 road blocks were mounted by the military and the police.
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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Unlike on February 23rd that voters turned out in their hundreds to vote in the presidential and National Assembly elections, the same was not the case at polling units (PU) 021 and 022, located inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja yesterday.
In polling unit (PU) 021 President Muhammadu Buhari had polled 552 votes as against the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar’s 505.
Atiku had however polled 525 against Buhari’s 465 at the polling unit (PU) 022 at the Presidential elections.
The the grand total, PDP got 1,030 while APC got 1,017, with 13 votes difference.
But for the area councils’ elections, INEC staff were practically relaxing as voters turn out was abysmally low.
Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari spent less than two minutes to cast his vote at Aso Rock PU 021, and 022 units.
He however declined to take questions from newsmen.
Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Low turn out of voters marred yesterday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections in Kaduna metropolis.
Some voters interviewed noted that one of the reasons for the low turn out was a result of late arrival of materials witnessed in the last presidential election, which kept many voters on queues for hours.
“So this time around they thought the same delay would happen, they therefore stayed indoor and making calls to find out the readiness of INEC officials”. Emma Ebong, a voter in Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna stated.
Another voter in Kakuri area, Isaac Aga noted that the low turn out of voters could be as a result of speculations making the round that the one of the parties might rig the election as alleged during the presidential elections.
Also, it was noted that those who voted during the presidential election, allegedly without assessing their data through the card readers failed to turn up following earlier warning by the REC that there would be no voting where there are no card readers.
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Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
There was low turnout of voters in most polling units across Benue State during the governorship and state House of Assembly elections compared to the turnout during the presidential election two weeks ago.
In some of the polling units visited by our correspondent, including LGEA Primary School, Gbajimba, Government House Polling Unit, Makurdi among others, there were no queues even as electoral officers had to wait for a long time for voters to come.