Low turn out greets Kaduna LG Elections

Voters on queue to vote at a polling unit in the city centre

Delay in the arrival of voter officials and materials as well as voter apathy adversely affected the just concluded Kaduna Local Government elections.

Cubinks' team of reporters, gathered that within the city centre most polling units did not commence voting until about 1:00pm. Voters who spoke to our Correspondent blamed the poor turn out on poor publicity of the voting process, leaving significant information shrouded in secrecy.

Some of the challenges encountered by voters and officials, according to party agents include delay in activating the electronic voter machines, absence of displayed register for voters.

Fundamentally however, remarked Kalu Ndukwe a Supervisor of one of the parties at Barnawa Clinic polling unit: "the processes is unlike the conventional elections, there is no secrecy in the ballot. Some ignorant voters are even being asked which party they want to vote and could be easily misguided.

"At the Federal Housing polling unit in Barnawa, elections closed with only 111 of the 500 registered voters, voting. What is most worrisome is that the ballot papers counted do not indicate which party the voters have voted for" he said.

Another agent speculated that already some chairmanship candidates have already been given official vehicles and security aides as they are already sure to win the day.

In suburban areas like Kafanchan in Jema'a, elections commenced at about 11:00am as voters defied the down pour to exercise their franchise, unlike Jaba and Kaura local government areas where unconfirmed reports indicate that elections never held for no tangible reason. The conduct of the elections have so far been peaceful and free of rancour but voters called for a rethink of the electronic voting process, which in their opinion leaves much to be desired when compared to the card reader.

All efforts by Cubinks to get the reactions of the Chairperson of the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KADSIECOM) failed. As at the time of going to press the results of the election were being collated.

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