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2015 elections: Voters views

ENCOMIUM Weekly was at some polling unites and voting points across the country. And some voters aired their views on the conduct of the Saturday, March 28, 2015.

‘THE ACREDITATION TOOK TOO LONG’- John Ogar, Calabar

Elections at my polling station in Calabar was well organized. At about 2pm, nothing was done. The electoral materials arrived very late. Everybody was just standing in the hot sun discussing. Bad boys were smoking and not obeying the customs and police officers who were sent there as security operatives were too old to do the job.

Comments that were encouraging and discouraging were flying in the air. I was angry because the card reader was not functioning adequately and the accreditation took too long.

‘THE CARD READER WAS GIVING SO MANY PROBLEMS…’- Aniete Bassy, Uyo

The card reader was giving so many problems and could not read. The elections were supposed to start at about 9am. The electoral materials and INEC officials arrived at about 11.36am. Everybody was tired at the polling station. I think the manual is better.

‘THE LATE ARRIVAL OF VOTING MATERIALS WAS A BIG SETBACK’- Adeoye James, County (Lagos)

There was no ballot paper after accreditation as at 3.30pm. We spent all day at the polling station in the rain. The security agents did not do their job. The late arrival of voting materials was a big setback.

‘THE ELECTIONS WERE OKAY’- Anwana Unene, Calabar

The elections were okay. Everybody was accreditated and the card reader was perfect. There was no violence. Security agents were impressive. They really did their job very well and the elections were free and fair.

‘IT WAS REALLY CHALLENGING’- Braine Ekenam, Eket

We spent the whole day in the hot sun battling the card reader. It was really challenging, but security was very much okay.

‘THE ELECTION WAS VERY STRESSFUL’- Andrew, Ogudu

The card reader was not good. We spent all day trying to use the card reader but to no avail. Although, the electoral materials arrived early but the election was very stressful.

‘NO CARD READER WAHALA’- Mayowa, Oke-Ira

The elections were free and fair. No violence nor card reader problem, except for the late arrival of electoral materials.

‘THERE WAS NO VIOLENCE AT MY POLLING STATION’- Mr. Ayo, County

There was no violence at my polling station. The polling agents were highly watchful. The elections were very peaceful, free, fair and successful. But the only challenge was the card reader which took longer time to operate.

‘THE ELECTIONS WERE VERY FREE AND FAIR’- Adewale, Ikeja

The elections were very free and fair. There was no problem of any kind. The card reader, thumb printing machine and accreditation were smooth except the INEC officials and the materials arrival very late at about 12pm.

‘I’M NOT HAPPY WITH INEC’- Olamide Thomas (Ogba, Ward C, 049)

I’m not happy with what is going on here, because we’ve been here since morning. Accreditation took a very long time. At the same time, we have just been informed some voting materials are not available. It’s so sad.

‘THEY ARE NOT SERIOUS’- Ikechukwu Diogu (Ogba, Ward C, 049)

They are not serious. They forgot some of the materials including the ballot papers for the House of Representatives election. They are also dull here.

‘THEY CAME WITHOUT BALLOT PAPERS’- Gbenga Shaba (Ogba, Ward C, 049)

From what I’m seeing, they are not even ready for anything. They came here without ballot papers for House of Representatives. So, I don’t know what’s going on. I think they should go back and get the voting materials.

‘THERE ARE MULTIPLE ISSUES HERE’- David Omotayo (Ogba, Ward C, 049)

The major issues are we came here late. No complete ballot papers and no security attached to the polling booth. I think they want to manipulate the poll.

‘THE CARD READERS ARE SLOW’- Elizabeth David (Ogba, Ward C, 049)

I’m not satisfied with what is going on here. There is no security for us. We are also not organized. Again, the card readers are also slow though we managed them like that.

‘WE ARE NOT ORGANISED’- Kehinde Rotimi (Ogba, Ward C, 049)

My problem here is that they are not organized at all. The card reader is not a problem here.

‘THERE WAS NO FIGHTING, NO WAHALA OR ANYTHING’- Clementina, Oke-Ira

We didn’t start accreditation until around 1:30pm. The two machines did not work until around that time. When it started working, we did our accreditation and cast our votes around 5pm. There was no fighting, no wahala or anything. The counting was finished around 8:30 in the night.

The only thing was some party people shared N500 and N1000 to people in the morning before the election.

‘I LIKE THE COMMITMENT OF PEOPLE THIS TIME AROUND’- Seun, Aguda, Ogba

I saw some party people sharing generators around my polling unit in the morning. What I found funny was the people were collecting it, yet they were shouting give us light, we don’t want generator. That was even before voting.

The voting was peaceful in my polling unit. I did my accreditation without stress. They came a bit late, they came around 9:00am. We were already waiting. I like the commitment of people this time around, unlike previous elections.

‘THE VOTING WAS PEACEFUL IN MY AREA’- Gbenga, Iyana Ipaja

The voting was peaceful in my area. INEC came early. But we didn’t start accreditation until about 9am. You won’t believe it, when the rain came, it almost blew away the canopy, but people stood firm and held it. I just love the commitment. We’ve never had it like this before.

The turnout was very encouraging. The only problem was the card reader. It didn’t take time with me, but for some others, they had to try over and over. Aside that, it was a credible election.

Encomium

Written by Encomium

A media, tech and events company.

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