The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will extend voting time, by hours lost, in some places affected by late commencement of the exercise.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said this on Saturday at the National Collation Centre located at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.
Officially, polls were supposed to open at 8:00am and close by 2:00pm, or till those on queue at the voting centres, by 2pm were able to vote.
“What the commission has decided is that in any of the state where polls opened at 9’o clock, there will be an extension of one hour and it progresses that way.
“In relation to the opening of polls in some of the states of the federation, as at 12noon, we recorded 100 percent opening of polls, some of them we recorded over 90 percent opening of poll,” Okoye said.
He added, “In Anambra as at 12 noon, 90% of all the polling units had opened; in Edo state, 97%; in Ekiti, 100%; in the FCT we recorded 73%; in Katsina, 100%, in Kebbi, 100%, in Kogi, 91%, in Kwara, 96%, in Niger 99.35%, in Ogun, 74%, in Ondo, 100%, in Osun state, 100%, in Taraba, 69%, in Yobe, 69%.
“In a place like Adamawa State, we recorded, 34% opening of polls, in Akwa Ibom, 64%, Bauchi, 49%, in Bayelsa, 29%, in Borno, 35%, in Delta 32%, in Ebonyi, 35%, in Gombe, 62% and so on and so forth.”
He said the commission is in touch with all the Resident Electoral Commissioners and electoral officers in almost all the local governments in relation to some the challenges they have that made polls not to open on time.
He said some of these challenges are security-related while some relate to the issue of late arrival of the members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
“But in all these states, the challenges are being addressed presently,” he said.
According to him, the commission was pleased to report that the Smart Card Reader (SCR) proved its functionality and efficiency by successfully authenticating all presidential candidates among millions of other voters within a short time at their respective polling units across the country.
He said the INEC chairman was in touched with relevant security agencies to address the situation in areas facing security challenges.
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