Low voter turnout across polling units in Nnewi North amid alleged vote-buying spree
Low voter turnout has been recorded across several polling stations in the Uruagu community and the environs of Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
PREMIUM TIMES observed that voting commenced later than scheduled at some polling units due to the late arrival of voters. Some presiding officers were late in setting up/ partitioning the voting booths.
Beyond this, there were widespread allegations of vote buying by party agents representing different political parties.
Some party agents claimed that several voters were demanding money before agreeing to cast their ballots.
“People are asking us to give them money before they can vote,” a Labour Party agent told PREMIUM TIMES, lamenting the low turnout of voters at the ongoing exercise.
At about 10:58 a.m. at Polling Unit 012, Cooperative Centre, Uruagu Ward 1, PREMIUM TIMES observed that voter participation remained low.
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The Presiding Officer, Mubarak Adam, expressed concern over the situation, revealing that only 42 of the 422 registered voters had been accredited as of 10:58 a.m. He said voting commenced around 9:00 a.m., with security personnel, including police officers, present to monitor the process.
A brief technical glitch was also recorded with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) when an elderly woman using a walking stick attempted to vote. She was eventually accredited manually after repeated attempts.
Mr Adam explained that fingerprint authentication had been largely ineffective since the commencement of voting, noting that officials resorted to using facial recognition through the BVAS for accreditation.