Sen. Shem Zagbayi (Niger-East) has decried the low turnout of voters for Saturday’s elections.
He bemoaned the low voter turnout when he spoke with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Diko, Tafa Local Government Area of Niger.
Zagbayi said that the turnout somewhat reflected people’s apathy towards the elections at the grassroots.
“It is quite unfortunate that people did not turn out for today’s elections as they did a couple of weeks ago.
“I think there is a need for more voter education to make the people realise the importance of this kind of elections.
“There is no way you come out for a federal election and then, neglect the local one which is closer to you. This attitude must change in subsequent elections,’’ he said.
Similarly, Alhaji Abdul Wuse, Niger State’s Commissioner for Justice, said that he expected more voters to come out for accreditation.
“However, I don’t want to pre-empt the outcome because it’s just one and a half hour into the accreditation.
“But from what we saw during the presidential election, this turnout is disappointing. We shall, nonetheless, wait until the close of accreditation before making a final pronouncement,’’ he said.
At Lapai, NAN reports that there was a large voter turnout but the figure could not be compared to that of the presidential election.
NAN also observes the use of card reader for voter accreditation was hitch-free in virtually all the polling units, unlike the hiccups noticed two weeks ago.
