INEC has kickstarted the election in Anambra on shaky ground with voting stalled at the polling unit of Soludo
Voting is underway in Anambra State in many polling units. But at the polling unit of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Chukwuma Soludo, voters in the hundreds are stranded. Not a single person has voted as of 10:07 am because the biometric machine is not working.
A reporter of Arise TV at the polling unit interviewed angry voters who have been agitated that they have not been able to cast their votes in the last two hours.
“Not a single person has voted in this polling unit with more than 200 voters waiting to cast their votes,” a voter who was interviewed said.
The INEC official at the polling unit said he has communicated to his supervisor at Awka who said the problem is not peculiar to the polling unit which is located at the Aguata local government area of Anambra State. But some analysts say it could a plot to systematically disenfranchise the voters.
There is also the challenge that security operatives are not at the polling, despite the climate of fear that exists in the state.
Election stats
The elections are holding in 5,640 polling units across the 21 Local Governments and 326 wards of Anambra State
Anambra originally has 4,608 polling units, but INEC created an additional 1,112 for the purpose of this election. 86 polling units have no registered voters; hence, elections won’t be taking place there.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says 2,525,471 registered voters would be participating in the election.
Security deployment
The Nigerian Police Force deployed announced that it would deploy more than 34,000 personnel outside those serving in the state for the election.
Apart from the police, the military, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service and other paramilitary agencies deployed personnel for the election.
Curiously, Soludo’s polling unit has no police presence.
