Low voter turnout in Abuja – Under age voting detected

Unlike the April 2 botched National Assembly election when residents of the Wuse, Maitama and Asokoro districts of Abuja trooped out as early as 6am for accreditation, yesterday’s rescheduled poll witnessed a low turnout of voters in the city centres.

At Wuse Zone 5 the turnout was impressive but still a far cry from last week’s, according to a voter, Hussani Abdullahi.
At Zone One, the process was peaceful although a low turnout was witnessed at the LEA primary school, Sudan Street, Wuse Zone 6.
At the polling center at Wuse II opposite Samsung Center, only security agents, election observers, newsmen were seen.

At the OAU Quarters, Maitama, the turnout was also low. However, at the Model Primary School Centre, Maitama, the turnout was impressive. Women were seen in large numbers waiting to cast their votes.
At the ECOWAS Secretariat polling center and Kwame Nkrumah Street, both in Asokoro, only a handful of voters turned out.

Most of the voters interviewed attributed the low turnout to Friday night’s bomb blast at the INEC office in Suleja and the fact that the contestants into the Senate and House of Representatives were hardly known. They admitted that they were scared but had to come out to vote for their preferred candidate.
At the Mogadishu Cantonment, over 200 voters did not find their names on the register and could not vote.
The INEC officials there promised to rectify the anomaly before the end of the exercise. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, who also came to cast his vote, however said the Suleja bomb blast does not amount to security failure.

Ihejirika, who expressed satisfaction with the turnout at the Mogadishu polling centers, said in terms of security, Abuja was relatively calm and peaceful. “The Suleja bomb blast is not a security failure but one terrorist act too many. The security agencies alone cannot put an end to the series of terrorism. We require the cooperation of all Nigerians irrespective of party affiliation, religion or ethnic bias. It is a problem we have to collectively condemn and collectively resolve,” he said.

Although voter turnout in Kwali was not like last week’s, it was nonetheless impressive. For instance, at the polling unit inside the Comprehensive Health Centre, only 636 of the 1,532 voters who registered in the centre were accredited. At the nearby Central Primary School, 655 voters out of the registered 880 were accredited before the noon deadline. The few persons who turned up for accreditation after midday were politely turned back by the INEC officials.

Both the chairman of the Kwali Area Council, Joseph Chazin, an ANPP stalwart, and the FCT chairman of the CPC, Isah Ramat Saidu, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the election in Kwali.un

-Sun

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Posted by admin on Apr 9 2011. Filed under Abuja (FCT), Elections 2011, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry