The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), on Saturday, decried the late arrival of poll officials in parts of the country in the ongoing elections.
The CDD, in its preliminary report on the conduct of the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly election, expressed worry over the development, especially in the South East where, it said, only 10 per cent of poll officials arrived on time.
The preliminary statement, which was signed by the Chairman, CDD Election Analysis Centre, Prof. Adele Jinadu, said data from about 5,000 election observers across the country showed late arrival of poll officials to their respective polling units across the country.
“Still on timely arrival, CDD observation data indicated that the South South recorded 27 percent of poll officials arriving early, while in the North East, the data showed 42 percent of INEC officials arriving on time to start the process.
According to the preliminary report only the North Central and South West recorded a better percentage in terms of early arrival with over 50 per cent respectively.
“CDD-EAC deployed 4,993 observers across the 36 States to keep a close watch on the conduct of the elections.
“Across the country almost 50 per cent of INEC poll officials arrived on time for the commencement of the process. However, the South East and South South recorded the lowest percentage of poll officials arriving on time.
“In the South East, only 10 per cent of poll officials arrived at their respective polling units on time and in the South South it was 27 per cent. In the North East 42 per cent of poll officials got to their polling units on time whilst in the North West, North Central and South West the figure was over 50 per cent,” Jinadu said.
According to him, Lagos, the State with the highest number of registered voters recorded just 18 percent in terms of timely arrival of INEC officials, just as it noted that the average opening time across the country was 9:25am. This is a clear one hour after polling was scheduled to start.
“On average, CDD-EAC observation showed INEC officials arrived for set up and commencement of the process between 9:30 and 10:30am in the polling units observed.
“In the South East, the average time for opening of polls was 10:56am; CDD-EAC observers have also been reporting several instances of polls not opening, even at 12:30pm. In several cases, observer findings reported security officials arriving at the polling stations, while INEC officials had not arrived to open the polls.
“On the availability of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), CDD rated the provision 98.8 per cent across polling units,” he said.
Jinadu, however, noted that there were reports of various glitches during the accreditation process, which contributed to delays in voting in places such as Borno state.
“There have been some reports of violence and voter suppression in some parts of the country. We have asked our observers in the field to gather more information about these issues.
“On the whole we commend Nigerians on their participation and peaceful conduct so far, although we note growing reports of voters frustrated by the speed of the voting process,” Jinadu said.
The centre commended Nigerians on their determination to vote and encouraged them to remain patient as they cast their ballot and to prevent people who want to disrupt the process.
“Where voting has started late or where processes have still not started, we encourage INEC to extend the voting period in order to enable all who want to do so to cast their ballot.
“We urge the security agencies to ensure that they remain neutral in their electoral day activities and actions,” Jinadu said.
