Issued: 12:30pm – Tuesday, 9th November 2021
Following INEC’s rescheduling of the Anambra State Governorship Election in Ihiala Local Government Area to Tuesday, 9th November 2021, the Situation Room deployed 20 Observers (1 per ward) to observe the supplementary election.
Reports received from Ihiala LGA, indicate late deployment of materials and INEC staff from the LGA office. At 10.00am, which was the scheduled start time, there was no sign of INEC staff and voting materials at any of the polling units. The earliest report of arrival of INEC staff and materials was at 11:20am in Ndi Ezike Primary School, Umuamu 2, Ihiala LGA. At about 12noon several of the polling units had received their materials and the INEC officials were seen addressing the voters to commence accreditation or just setting up.
Situation Room observers have also reported late arrival of security officials at the polling units and in a few places the security personnel arrived before the INEC adhoc staff. A few voters were also seen arriving and leaving the polling units ahead of the arrival of the INEC adhoc staff. In one polling unit (PU 006 and PU 00, Azia Central School 1 and 2, Azia Ward, Ihiala LGA), Situation Room observers noticed less than 15 voters waiting for materials to be deployed and INEC staff to arrive.
Situation Room notes that voting is starting more than 2hours late on the average due to late deployment of voting materials and INEC adhoc staff. INEC will need to extend the time beyond 4pm to ensure all the voters who have come out to vote actually cast their votes.
As the voting process begins, Situation Room calls on INEC to ensure that the remaining part of the voting process goes on seamlessly particularly with the BVAS. Technical staff should be on hand to address any technical glitches with the machines. INEC should also mandate its ad-hoc staff to upload the results on the iRev portal immediately after the counting, sorting and announcement of results at PU levels to ensure transparency of the voting process.
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SIGNED:
Ene Obi
Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room
Asma’u Joda
Co-Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room
James Ugochukwu
Co-Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room