Gideon Arinze in Enugu
Residents of Enugu State appear to have lost hope and interest in the conduct of elections given the low turnout of voters that is currently being experienced at the ongoing governorship and state assembly elections.
This is unlike the last Presidential and National Assembly elections during which residents of the State trooped out in large numbers to vote, despite threats of sit at home.
Recall that in some polling units where voting materials did not arrive on time, voters waited for several hours just to exercise their rights.
However, while voting materials arrived on time today and voting commenced early enough, it was noticed in some of the polling units visited that the turnout was poor.
At the Central Primary School Ugwuaji and Afor Market Square Polling units, accreditation and voting started at 9am. But only a few voters turnout out. The story is the same across some polling units across the state.
It was also noticed that unlike in the last election when residents stayed back in their numbers to count their votes, most of them were leaving as soon as they cast their votes.
At the Central Primary School Ugwuaji and Afor Market Square, party agents who spoke to this reporter said that the low turnout being experienced was as a result of the outcome of the last presidential and national assembly election.
“The outcome of the presidential election, particularly, was not what the citizens expected, one of them said. ” And that is why most of them have decided to stay back since their votes will not count,”.
Some of those who voted in the last election but didn’t turn up for the state elections also told this reporter that they had lost hope and trust in the capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to conduct free and fair polls.
As at the time of this report, voting was still ongoing and no violence has been recorded yet.
