The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has dished out a preliminary report on the ongoing Presidential and National Assembly elections.
It states that in some areas, polls did not start when they should, because of security challenges or problems with some members the National Union of Road Transport Workers NURTW.
INEC National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye revealed moments ago in Abuja.
INEC, Festus said, has approved an extension of voting time in areas where there were such hold backs.
Such extensions would be restore the amount hours lost to the unfortunate delays.
His words, “With regards to the opening of polls, in some states of the federation, we recorded 100 percent and in some others, we recorded over 90 percent. We are in touch with all the Resident Electoral Commissioners RECs and our Electoral Officers in the local governments and they have given us reasons why polls were delayed in some areas. Some were security related while others had to do with the NURTW.
“The second challenge is the malfunctioning of the smart card readers. In all such places, we have directed the RECs and Electoral Officers to replace those card readers”, he said, adding that the commission’s technical support officers are in all the Registration Area Centres RACs to help out.
“The commission has decided to extend polls in areas where polling did not start on time. For instance, where polling started 12pm instead of 8am, the extension would be for four hours.”
