TELL Magazine

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC appears to be making efforts to redeem its image on the job of conduct of elections with what has been observed so far across the country on Saturday March 18. To start with, officials of INEC reported early in most polling stations with materials, and most cases voting had started before 9:00 am. In Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Kaduna, Kano Borno and many other states voters came out early enough and were glad that INEC officials were ready for the exercise.

For instance, in Lagos state places where some hoodlums invaded and carted away ballot boxes after voting took place last February 25 people were encouraged to come out to vote because there was a heavy presence of security operatives to ensure that there was no repeat of what happened during the last election. The same goes for areas where there had been apprehensions that there could be clashes going by the exchanges between supporters of different political parties involved in the exercise. But we noticed that there were a few police personnel in Mushin, Oshodi and adjoining areas, particularly in the morning hours.

However, there was a curious development in Ekiti state where few people were seen at the polling stations. But it should be mentioned that Ekiti is one of the states with off season elections, so the governorship election was conducted last year. In Ebonyi and Delta states, there have been complaints by officials of the Commission about challenges of logistics. In Abia State, INEC officials arrived a bit late to meet voters in good number waiting to cast their votes.