#NigeriaDecides: Ogun Voters Decry INEC Officials’ Delay

As Nigerians cast their votes, voters at Aseese, Obafemi Owode Local Government, Ogun State, have condemned officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission over the delay in their arrival.

Some voters in the area that spoke with Punch, said the delay might be on purpose to frustrate people from voting.

Around noon, the number of voters at the polling unit was about 276.

One of the aggrieved voters, Lawal Arinola, said a number of them have been waiting since 7:30 am to vote but no INEC official had reported to the area.

A middle-aged man, who gave his name simply as Akinmoladun, said he had been waiting for over four hours but no party agent or INEC official had arrived.

He said, “No polling unit in this area has seen any INEC official. From Maba to Cele 2, down to Powerline. Meanwhile, some polling units in Lagos are almost done voting. This is unfair. Will they come now and expect us to finish voting by 2:30? People are eager to vote, that’s why they came out en masse.”

The community development chairman, Oyelakin Lawrence, who was in charge of distributing numbers to voters as they arrived, said the delay was due to logistics issues.

He said, “Before now we had only 24 polling units in Ibafo, now we have 47. The same can be recorded in other areas in Obafemi Owode. It’s quite an issue disbursing the materials to each polling unit. The INEC officials are on their way. We have sent people to pick them.”