Bauchi decides: PDP election observer decry late arrival of election materials in mainau
Samuel Luka, Bauchi
An election observer of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi state, Alhaji Mukhtar Gidado has lamented the late arrival of voting materials at Haruna Memorial Primary School, polling unit 029 in Mainau community of Alkaleri local government area of the state.
Alhaji Mukhtar who spoke to journalists minutes after the commencement of accreditation and voting, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to ensure that such challenges are addressed.
“I arrived at exactly 8.00am and based on INEC guidelines and rules, election materials is supposed to arrive at 8.00am on the dot but actually, I don’t know, the election materials arrived around 9.20am and voting has not yet commenced but the electoral officers are on ground now, they are sorting out the materials and I believe very soon voting will commence”, he said.
The PDP observer who is also the traditional title holder of Jarman Alkaleri, said the turn out of voters has so far indicated that there is no voter apathy.
The PDP Election Observer attributed the high turn out of voters to adequate enlightenment embarked upon by the media and the various political parties.
“I must say that, based on my observation, there’s no voter apathy because people have been trooping to this polling unit since around 7.30am. I saw them when I came here around 8.00am and I must attribute this to the voter awareness in Media organizations as well as the various political parties”, he said.
Alhaji Mukhtar who acknowledged the presence of security agencies, such as the police and the Civil Defense among others, said that the attitude of the voters was commendable.
“I think the voter attitude is okay because there no bitterness or acrimony between the various political party followers, you can see them exchanging pleasantries, so, God’s willing, things will go well as far as this polling unit is concerned”, the Jarman Alkaleri said.
“I want to appeal to INEC that this issue of late arrival of election materials should be addressed, now it is 9.30am, apart from this I have not seen any challenge actually”, Alhaji Mukhtar advised.
“They said they were there but there was shortage of ink, so they couldn’t receive the ink in good time, so that’s why they came late”, he explained.