Enugu Voters Accuse INEC Of Sabotage Over Late Arrival, Absence Of Officials

Voters in the three local government areas in Enugu State capital have accused officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state of conspiracy to deny the people of their rights to elect candidates of their choice in the Saturday election.

As of 1.30 pm on Saturday, many polling booths within Enugu's capital city were empty as the officials assigned to conduct the Presidential and National Assembly elections were nowhere to be found.

Some of the electorates had to return to their houses after waiting for several hours without seeing the electoral officers.

Some patriotic Nigerians and party agents were seen pleading with the prospective voters to stay back and went ahead to provide snacks and drinks to pacify them to wait for the commencement of the exercise.

Most affected were voters in Enugu South and Enugu East local government areas where electoral officers and materials could not arrive until after 1 pm.

All enquiries made by our correspondents from INEC state and local government offices to ascertain the cause of the delay yielded no reasonable response as the officials traded blames, attributing the lapses to logistic challenges.

An INEC official who was very furious following incessant complaints from party agents over the delay in commencing the exercise at most polling booths within Enugu East asked them to contact the INEC state office.

Emeka Iloanya, one of the stranded voters who insisted that they would not leave the polling units no matter how long it would take for the officials to arrive at the polling unit at Proda area in Emene, alleged that those behind the undue delay must have conspired with some INEC officials to sabotage the victory of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi in the state.

“How do we explain these types of lapses we are experiencing in an election that INEC had enough time to plan?

"We are suspecting that the delay could be the handiwork of persons paid to frustrate the voters from casting their votes for their preferred candidate in this area, Peter Obi, but they must surely fail.

“I am worried because if those of us residing in the capital city of Enugu could not vote early on account of the late arrival of material, how do we expect those in the rural areas to participate in the exercise before the voting period elapsed?

"We are watching but they should know that we are more vigilant now,” said Iloanya.

Other voters, who were armed with their PVCs but could not vote in the New Haven area of Enugu North local government at the time of this report alleged deliberate efforts to disenfranchise a good number of the electorate.

They, however, demanded an extension of time should the materials eventually arrive at the polling units or the exercise should be postponed to enable them to exercise their franchise.

The Advocate reports that there was a large turnout of voters at various polling booths visited by our correspondents but the exercise was marred by the late arrival of election materials and the officials.