• Says: ‘I’m troubled by reports I’m receiving’
Early returns from yesterday’s governorship election in Kogi State seemed to be in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer, Prince Abubakar Audu.
Audu, according to unofficial figures from different parts of the state, appeared to have won in most of the local government areas in the Kogi West Senatorial District.
These are Yagba East, Mopa-Moro and Ijumu while incumbent Governor Idris Wada won in Yagba West and Kabba-Bunu.
Audu was also leading in six of the nine local government areas in Kogi East where he and Wada come from.
In Kogi Central the Labour Party candidate, Dr. Philip Salawu won in Okehi LG while Wada won in most of the LGs in the zone although with slight margins.
The state resident electoral commissioner, Hassaa Pai announced late last night that collation of results from the local government areas would commence at 6am today.
The PDP was all jitters soon after the close of voting in the election yesterday with its flag bearer alleging that the poll was programmed to deny him a second term.
Wada said there was a plot to rig the election and alter the people’s will.
A visibly irked Wada told reporters after casting his vote at about 3.40pm that he should not have been treated so shabbily in his own unit where a card reader malfunctioned and accreditation continued beyond 1pm.
He complained bitterly about the delay, but did not name those he suspected of engineering the plot.
Wada arrived at his polling unit at about 3.30pm, but had to wait in his car for 10 minutes before voting.
When he arrived, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials were still stamping the ballot papers. He was the first to vote.
After voting, he said: “quite unfortunately, from what I’ve seen here, there seems to be a deliberate attempt to frustrate all this mass of people who have come out here to exercise their civic responsibility.
“I’m not happy at the slow pace. Why are we voting at this time? There were incidence forms, they should have started using them earlier.
“We kept waiting after accreditation to start voting. It’s wrong the way they’re going about it, signing the ballot papers now, which should have been done earlier.
“They have no excuse. Nobody has given any credible excuse for the slow pace of work here. This is why people are insinuating that there is a deliberate attempt to deny many people of an opportunity to vote, which is wrong. There is no need for that. Let’s have a process which is credible, then everybody will go home, whatever happens.”
Wada said state-wide, he received reports of ballot boxes snatching in some local government areas and some wards such as Ogodo and Iyano, as well as stuffing of ballot boxes with thumb printed ballot papers.
“All this are going to be documented and pursued with INEC, because after all the voter education and all that, it will be sad for our country when such things are allowed to happen. It should be a free and fair competition and I don’t know why people are doing this.
“Some individuals have been mentioned. We’ll pursue it with INEC at the appropriate time. There are issues of fake soldiers, fake policemen intimidating people at the voting point. These are completely unnecessary.
“What is the point of having periods of campaign to convince voters to vote for you if some devious people go about planning to bring in fake soldiers, fake policemen to disrupt the process? It’s unfortunate,” he said.
According to the governor, who did not name names, the plot was hatc?hed in Kogi rather than Abuja.
“I’m not suspecting the involvement of the Federal Government. This is a local arrangement here in Kogi State.
“What is next is that we’ll wait, collate all the reports and whatever result is declared we’ll have our position after that,” he said.
On the turnout, he said: “It has been very impressive. People are very enthusiastic. And this is where the frustration sets in. This is why we need an expeditious process for people to discharge their responsibilities and go home. That’s how it should be.”
Accreditation of voters began on time in various polling units in Kogi East Senatorial Zone. At Government Secondary School, Anyigba, voters queued up to get accredited.
There was heightened security presence on the roads, with police officers and soldiers mounting several road blocks and conducting searches on motorists, even those conveying journalists.
However, there were several reports of card readers malfunctioning in some units, including Wada’s in Odu Ogboyaga market in Dikena LGA.
Due to the malfunctioning card reader and lack of incidence forms, accreditation continued in Wada’s unit until about 2pm. However, accreditation was over on time in some other polling units visited.
In Ita-Aja 1 polling unit, Anyigba, Dekina, less than 10 persons were left on the queue for accreditation before 1pm. The situation was calm. Voters said the card reader did not malfunction, with a Polling Officer confirming that all the card readers were working well.
Due to shortage of incidence forms in some polling units, officials had to resort to using papers to enter voters’ details.
In Unit 012, Anyigba, the polling officer complained of biometric authentication failure for many voters, adding that there was just one incident form.
At Odu-Ogbaloto unit, Ward 1, in Dekina, a PDP leader, Patrick Shaibu, said the only problem was that of malfunctioning card readers.
In some units, electoral officers had to use detergents and sanitisers to clean fingers, as card readers failed to recognise some.
The incidence forms for those who failed biometric accreditation were used up in some units, with electoral officers resorting to writing on papers.
A Polling Officer said an order was been given to “get a sheet of paper for those whose fingerprints can not be authenticated.”
Wada arrived his unit by 11.20am for accreditation, but it was not a smooth process for him. The Card Reader failed to verify his Permanent Voter Card. He was not accredited until about 20 minutes after his arrival. Several attempts to make the card reader work failed.
The presiding officer, in a shaky voice, said: “His Excellency needs an incidence form.”
A furious Wada said: “How can that happen?”
His wife, Halima, could not find her name on the register and also had to fill an incidence form.
Wada said he was troubled by the reports he received earlier in the day. According to him, despite the heavy deployment of police and soldiers, there were still incidences of thuggery.
Asked if he was confident of victory despite the challenges he observed, he said: “By the grace of God if it’s free and fair I’ll win.”
On the alleged acts of thuggery, he said: “It is good the whole place is being militarised. That will prevent thuggery but thugs are still operating!?”
On his wife Halima’s name not found on the voters’ register, Wada said:? “My wife’s card was recognised and her name is on the register, but they did not find her name on the sheets they’re using. So, she had to fill an incidence form.
“The incidences I’m hearing about are troubling. I will not rush to judgment. I just hope the authorities are listening and will take immediate action, because this election is a litmus test on Nigeria’s democracy.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm. People want to exercise their civil rights and responsibilities. It is the opportunity to do so that is being denied many of them by the failure of this equipment. It’s mind-boggling that in a single election in our country in one day, card readers are disappointing us. Something needs to be done.
“There was a failure of the card reader. How can that happen? In a single election, one day in the whole of Nigeria? How can we have card reader incidents? INEC said they were providing backups. There were so many people here who are going to be completely disenfranchised. This is wrong!
“They said they have few incidence forms and there is no photocopy machine here! So, how are people going to vote?
“It seems to be a deliberate attempt to frustrate the whole process. I am going to call the REC (Resident Electoral Commissioner) now when I leave here, and I hope that they can do something about it.
“Most Nigerians were looking forward to this election. Before I came here, I believed that the whole process was free and fair, with the massive security.”
Deputy Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr Nnamdi Nwiyi, debunked reports of a security lockdown of Dekina.
According to him, there was an incident in a polling unit which led to protests. He said it resulted in the INEC officials leaving, making it impossible for accreditation to begin.
Nwiyi said only one unit was affected, and that it did not amount to a serious security issu?e. He said electoral officers addressed the problem.
He said: “Security officials will not be caught napping. So far, I’ll say that it has been generally orderly. Everything has been peaceful but we’ll not rest on our oars. We have to be extra-vigilant and more cautious to ensure there will be no embarrassment to Nigerians and Kogi people.
“I received the report about a lockdown. It was Ward 003 or 004 in Dekina. We heard the indigenes were having issues and the electoral officials had to take the materials back to their office. It was a message I got from security and intelligence reports. But I believe INEC would be able to sort it out. Apart from that, our men have been giving us positive news from the field.”
On allegations of thuggery, Nwini said: “If he (Wada) mentioned specific names I’m sure security would have been beefed up in those places.”
Urging voters to remain law-abiding, he said: “I think Nigeria should be getting more mature by now with our experience with elections. The issue is that the awareness is now high.? Voter apathy has been removed. However, politicians and the National Orientation Agency still have a lot of work to do on issues of orderly conduct during elections.
“It is only when people have trust in the result that we can get it right. But so far, I’ll give a pass-mark to what I’ve seen on the field.”
Wada’s wife Halima said the huge turnout of women was an indication of how much they love her and the governor.
“Our people love us. That’s why they’re coming out. I’m always among them. So once they see me they’re happy to be with me. We’ve done our homework and our people have accepted us, so why won’t they allow them to vote?” she said.
