25th January, 2020
The re-run elections for the Senatorial, House of Representatives, and State constituency seats in Essien Udim local government council has been peaceful and orderly in most polling units.
The polling started as early as 9 a.m.
At Ukana Ikot Ntuen Ward 2 Unit 9 with three voting points, voters were seen on queue casting their votes.
Speaking to one of the polling officers, who is a Corps member, Mr Tunde Adeyemi, he said that materials arrived early and voting began at the unit by 8.30 a.m.
He said that there was no challenge as the card readers were working optimally.
At Ward 9 units 17 and 18, voters were seen casting their votes.
At ward 9 unit 30, the electoral officer, Anietie Udo, said the exercise was peaceful as voters were orderly.
She said that the only challenge encountered was the ink pad and it was improvised.
However, there was a low turnout of voters at the Ukana West, ward11, unit 009 of the Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Security was tight as they were more in numbers than the voters who turned out to cast their votes.
It was also observed that there were no All Progressives Congress (APC) agents in some of the polling stations visited in Essien Udim LGA.
This was however not surprising as the APC State Chairman, Ini Okopido, on Friday, announced the withdrawal of the party from the elections.
Okopido alleged that the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini, had been biased to the APC and as such the party would not participate in rerun, NAN reports.
Police had announced restriction of both vehicular and personnel movements except those on election duty in Essien Udim LGA.
However, newsmen monitoring the re-run election in the affected local government report that people are going about their normal duty, including vehicles and Okada riders.