Late arrival of polling officers, materials slow down accreditation in Nasarawa

Late arrival of polling officers and materials slowed down accreditation in most parts of Nasarawa State, with some areas starting well over two hours behind schedule.

Our correspondent went round Keffi, and made phone contacts with Lafia, the state capital; Doma, Akwanga, Nasarawa, Obi, Wamba, Karu and Lafia, covering south, west, and north of the state, reports that accreditation witnessed hitches in the early hours of the exercise.

Keen voters, who turned out were seen heading back to their houses after they observed that polling officers did not show up in most of the units in Keffi, just as contacts made over the phone showed that would-be voters were disappointed by absence of either polling officers, or materials including card readers.

At the GRA I polling unit min Angwan Rimi, officers arrived late, only to discover the two card reader failed to function, forcing them to send it back for replacement.

Presiding Officer, Bakare Ahmed confirmed that the two card readers failed, and were replaced only at about 10:30am, well over two hours of lateness.

Meanwhile, our correspondent observed at all the  polling units visited, that the manual accreditation has been going on at the same time as the one with the card readers, in order to save time.

Polling officers said where card readers rejected PVCs, the card holders are immediately sent to be entered on the incident form for onward manual accreditation.

Spokesman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state, Ibrahim Abdullahi was contacted for comments, but he said he had no idea what may have been the cause, explaining that local government INEC offices received electoral materials since on Friday, for onward distribution by daybreak.