28th March, 2015
David Odey
Accreditation of voters for the presidential and National Assembly elections today was slow but peaceful in some parts of Lagos, western Nigeria.
At Ward 035 polling unit at Agidingbi Grammar School in Ikeja, Lagos, accreditation started on schedule, with hundreds of enthusiastic eligible voters queuing in an orderly manner for the exercise.
Our correspondent who monitored the exercise, spent about two hours on the queue before he was accredited.
It was the same story at nearby expansive Technical College, Agidingbi.
At Ward 034 on Bisi Ogabi Street, Ikeja, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, arrived very late for the accreditation.
The voters,however, waited patiently till about 11:47 am before their arrival.
At Ward 03304 polling unit at Oregun High School, Ikeja, the electoral officials had issues with the card readers. The card readers malfunctioned and had to be replaced before accreditation could begin at about 11:20 am.
The card reader also failed to function at Mushin Ward 1 on Olufowobi Street and INEC officials took it away for replacement.
Voters were still waiting for the arrival of a another card reader to be accredited at the time of this report.
At Dideolu Estate, Ogba, polling station, INEC officials arrived late for the accreditation exercise.
At polling units where voters were not many, accreditation was almost completed at the time of this reports.
Our correspondent who drove round Ikeja to monitor the exercise reports that there has been no incident except the late arrival of materials and electoral officials.
Security personnel were everywhere while Ikeja bus stop was turned into a football field by many youths.
Soldiers were seen around the General Hospital roundabout at Ikeja, courteously checking motorists and waving them on after the checks.