By Kayode Abdulazeez, Ilorin
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Saturday extended the voting time in Ilorin West local government area of Kwara State to 6 pm
Disclosing this, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Kwara State, Malam Attahiru Garba Madami, said the commission has extended the ongoing voting exercise to 6:00 pm in Ilorin West local government area due to the late commencement of the voting process in many polling units in the local government area.
The PDP House of Representatives candidate for Ilorin West/Asa federal constituency, Alhaji Ibrahim Ajia, had alleged an attempt to particularly favour national assembly candidates of the ruling party contesting for the green chambers.
According to him, “The process is not as agitated by INEC because a lot of things didn’t go the way we expected. The BVAS was not working well and there was a delay in the arrival of material for about three hours at the Magaji Ngeri constituency.
“At Ode Alausa polling unit, Ballot paper for presidential and senate were about 800 each, whereas that of the House of Representatives were just 10. The people raised an alarm and voting could not start. Same thing in Baboko. So there was a deliberate attempt and targeted coordinated efforts on the candidates of the House of Representatives “, he added.
Speaking with newsmen, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Mallam Attahiru Garba Madami, said “Yes, it’s true that we have extended the exercise due to late start in the entire Ilorin West local government area. We started very late due to logistics problems. So we extended voting till 6:00 pm till everybody in the queue has voted”.
Also, there was late arrival of INEC personnel and a shortage of ballot papers for House of Representative in polling unit 045 oganija, Oke-Apomu in Ilorin West.
On the issue of shortage of ballot papers raised by the PDP House of Representatives candidate for Ilorin West/Asa, Alhaji Ibrahim Ajia, the REC said “I have directed my Electoral Officer (EO) to handle the issue”, he added.
