May 03, (THEWILL) – Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom and other stakeholders, have described the conduct of Saturday’s Local Government elections in Benue State as peaceful, fair and credible amid lack of interest in voters.
The Governor voted at LGEA Primary School, Gbajimba, in Guma Local Government area, expressed happiness with the large turn out of the people to cast their votes across the state, stressing that having worked very hard, the People’s Democratic Party would come out victorious.
He said that despite the invasion of the local government by Fulani terrorists, which has made more than half of the local government displaced, the massive turn out by voters is a clear testimony that the people are conscious of their rights by actively participating in all voting activities.
At the Federal Inland Revenue Service, polling station, Makurdi, there was low turnout of voters as the case was not different as there was no security cover at the time of the visit.
One of the polling officers at Opposite Pardopas Harmony Secondary School polling unit, Makurdi, Mr John Ogbu, disclosed that even though six political parties were on the ballot paper, only the PDP came out to vote.
The exercise was generally conducted under a peaceful atmosphere, while the processes of the elections were free and fair, as materials and election officials arrived at the polling units on time.
As early as 9:30am, voters started trickling into some of the polling stations situated in Wailomayo ward to vote for candidates of their choice.
Even though observers that monitored the elections in the state hailed the peaceful conduct of the elections, they decried the low turnout of voters for the elections.
Acting Chairman, Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions of Nigeria, Barrister Jossy Eze, said he particularly noted that voters were not intimidated into voting.
According to him, “So far, the places we visited I noticed that the election was peaceful; there is general voter apathy as regards the number of voters, and the number we have seen from the ballot boxes.
The chairman of Benue State Independent Electoral Commission, Dr Tersoo Loko, said the result will be declared on Sunday by 2:00pm.
About the Author
