Residents of Edo State on Saturday trooped out early in their numbers to exercise their civic responsibilities for the presidential and national assembly elections.
However, their expectations in terms of early kick-off of the election was short-lived because of the late arrival of election materials and destruction of ballot boxes, which disrupted the election in some places.
Although there was no report of Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) malfunction across the state, but there was an issue of the omission of the Labour Party logo on the ballot papers sent to Esan West/Central/Igueben federal constituency, which the electoral body has assured to address.
Read also: I am impressed so far with the election–Dino Melaiye
At governor Godwin Obaseki’s ward, Ward 04 around mission road, Oredo local government area of the state, some hoodlums snatched voting materials, carted away the ballot boxes and chased away officials.
Similarly, at ward 04, Idia college, oredo local government area of the State, some group of thugs invaded the units at Idia College, Benin City, chased away voters, scattered the ballot papers on the floor, destroyed ballot boxes as well as voting cubicles and disrupted the process.
Prior to the attacks, a visit to ward 01 Garrick memorial school, ward 12, Oba market oredo LGA, Ward 01 Ikpoba Okha LGA, voting was yet to commence at 10am.
However, the case was different in ovia north east and ovia south west local government areas as electoral materials arrived early in most polling centers across the council areas. While accreditations and voting commenced at 8am.
Speaking after casting his vote, John Odigie-Oyegun, former governor of Edo State and erstwhile national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said the voting process was seamless and the turnout was encouraging.
