INEC Hails Kogi Election As TMG Releases Preliminary Reports

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News From The State Sunday, November 22nd, 2015

The Independent National Electoral Commission says the Kogi State governorship election on Saturday was an improvement on previous polls conducted in the state.

The Deputy Director of Publicity of INEC, Mr. Nick Dazang, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.

He said although there were few challenges with regard to card readers’ performance in in the exercise, security, accreditation and voting processes were successful.

Dazang said there were some minor challenges, including card readers malfunctioning, but the mechanisms in place were deployed to correct them.

He said, “There was also an incident in Dekina where a ballot box was snatched even when voting had not started.

“There was also one ward, 27, at Anyigba, where ballot and result sheets were torn. Otherwise, I think the election went well.”

Dazang said the incidence of violence that was anticipated during the polls was not much, when compared with the cases in previous elections in the state.

“In the time past we had situations where our staff were abducted, people were killed. There is no incident of violence at that level; we have not heard about anybody’s death or abduction.

“There is an improvement compared to previous elections in the state which is considered to be volatile,” he said.

Dazang added that the efficiency of the card readers was above average on Saturday as the use of incident form was negligible.

He said, “There was one particular area in Dekina where our officials were not proficient in the use of card reader and we are investigating what happened.

“Otherwise, I think generally, the election went on well; we have technical teams in all the 239 wards and in all the wards; we have ICT staff moved in to troubleshoot any experienced challenges.”

TMG releases report

The Transition Monitoring Group has released a report of its Kogi election monitoring.

‎According to TMG Quick Count observers, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials arrived by 7:30am at 75 percent of polling units.

The group said, “At 92 percent of polling units, Quick Count observers reported that accreditation started at 9:00am.

“At 94 percent of polling units, there was security presence.

“At 97 percent of polling units, All Progressive Congress (APC) agents were present.

“At 95 percent of polling units, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agents were present.”