The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend voting period where the election started late in order to enable all who want to vote to cast their ballot.
The Centre also called on the security agencies to ensure that they remain neutral in their electoral day activities and actions.
CDD made the calls in its preliminary statement on the conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections in Abuja on Saturday.
Adele Jinadu, the chairman of CDD election analysis centre while presenting their preliminary findings to journalist said its data indicated that there was late arrival of poll officials to their respective polling units across the country on election day.
“Across the country almost 50% of INEC poll officials arrived on time for the commencement of the process. However, the South East and South South recorded the lowest percentage of poll officials arriving on time. In the South East, only 10% of poll officials arrived their respective polling units on time and in the South South it was 27%.
“In the North East 42% of poll officials got to their polling units on time whilst in the North West, North Central and South West the figure was over 50%. However, Lagos, the State with the highest number of registered voters recorded just 18% in terms of timely arrival of INEC officials. The average opening time across the country was 9:25am; that is a clear one hour after polling was scheduled to start.
“On average, CDD-EAC observation showed INEC officials arrived for set up and commencement of the process between 9:30 and 10:30am in the polling units observed. In the South East, the average time for opening of polls was 10:56am; CDD-EAC observers have also been reporting several instances of polls not opening, even at 12:30pm.
“In several cases, observer findings reported security officials arriving at the polling stations, while INEC officials had not arrived to open the polls,” CDD said.
The Centre data showed the availability of one Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) device in 98.8% of polling units and reports of various glitches during the accreditation process, which contributed to delays in voting in places such as Borno state.
“There have been some reports of violence and voter suppression in some parts of the country. We have asked our observers in the field to gather more information about these issues.
“On the whole we commend Nigerians on their participation and peaceful conduct so far, although we note growing reports of voters frustrated by the speed of the voting process,” CDD stated.
