Late arrival of materials, low voter turnout delay Rivers local elections

Late arrival of election materials and low voter turnout on Saturday delayed the commencement of the local government council elections in Woji Ward 6, Obio/Akpor area of Rivers State.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) monitoring the exercise reports that as of 10:12 a.m., election materials were yet to arrive at several polling units in the ward.

Polling units affected include Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 15, 29 and 30, where accreditation had not commenced and only a handful of voters were seen waiting to cast their ballots.

Some voters and party agents were observed discussing the situation while awaiting the arrival of materials.

NAN also reports that there was no visible presence of security personnel at the polling units.

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A voter at Polling Unit 29, Kingsley Amadi, stated that he arrived early but was still waiting for election materials.

He, however, expressed optimism for a smooth and transparent process despite the delay and attributed the low turnout to the political crisis that preceded the election.

Another voter, who identified herself simply as Oroma, said she was confident that the process would reflect the will of the people.

The chairmanship and councillorship election is being conducted across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.