In most of the voting centres covered in Alimosho, a suburb of Lagos, voter-turnout was very low while the card readers were not working well.
At the Moslem college which served as collection centre for over 10 voting centres in the area, BusinessDay discovered that three out of five card readers used by Inec officials were malfunctioning.
“They show fingerprints, but not other details of the voter”, an Inec official explained to this reporter. This same problem was reported at Ward E 026 where a voter who identified himself as Nathan alleged manipulation.
“If you look very well, you will see that these officials are not serious. There are supposed to be three officials stamping the voting sheets but only one person is doing that without much interest in what she is doing”, Nathan fumed.
Taiwo Oguntade was a voter at Ward E 25A. He explained to BusinessDay that the low voter turnout was because people were angry with the govrrnment.
“Just ask yourself ; what has this government done for the people? All we hear is that they are fighting corruption and that the economy is doing well. But what concerns the common man with corruption and economy?.
“The only thing the common man wants to hear is that price of Garri and rice has come down; he wants a government that will put food on his table, not econony” Oguntade said.
In Igando, precisely at Ward 004, voters were stranded and disappointed as they could not vote because, though INEC brought voting materials for the presidential and house of representatives candidates, there was none for the Senate.
“Because of that, INEC has said we cannot vote. I cannot understand this. We have pleaded with them to allow us vote for those that are availanle but they have said no.
” As I am standing here, I am not sure I will be voting today and I am getting impatient”, voters who introduced himself simply as Kelvin told BusinssDay.
This election in the areas covered by this reporter leaves much to cheer about. As at 12noon, election materials hadn’t arrived at one of the polling booths visited. Voters were standing about, conversing in low tune.
Chuka Uroko
