IMO LG Polls : Late Arrival Of INEC Officials Meet Low Turn Out of Voters.

Voters Observe Business As Usual While Imo Local Government Elections Hold.

Late arrival of election materials coupled with low turn out of voters have crippled the local government elections in all the 27 local government areas of Imo state.

Also residents of the state defied the restriction placed on vehicular and human traffic as they went about their duties undisturbed.

News men who monitored the exercise in Owerri municipal, Ikeduru, Mbaitoli, Nkwerre, and Ohaji/Egbema observed that as late as 10 am, election materials were yet to arrive at most of the polling units.
Police were also less concerned to enforce the order.

At Eziamma Obire Polling Unit 4 in Nkwerre Council Area of the State, where the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Chief Uche Nwosu voted, voting commenced at exactly at 10:45 am.

Earlier the Chairman of the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC), Hon Ethelbert Ibebuchi, who had supervised the dispatch of election materials at the Commission’s office in Owerri, told newsmen that everything had been put in place to ensure a hitch-free exercise.

However Governor Rochas Okorocha who voted at Ogboko Ward 2 Unit 1 in Ideato South Council Area at exactly 2.30pm expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the exercise, describing the turnout as impressive.

He said, “ I am here to cast my vote and I am happy with the turnout of voters, it shows that the people are happy and eager to elect their Chairmen and Councillors.”