28th March, 2015 -all eyes were on Nigeria because of the big deal; the Presidential elections. Although, the elections also held for members of House of Representatives and The Senate, more attention was given to the presidential election. It has been apprehensive in the 6 weeks leading to the election and for many, Nigeria was threading a delicate path as the atmosphere had been tensed. The mud-slinging, image slandering campaigns and social media ‘wars’ from the supporters of the 2 parties in the contest.
Well, Saturday came with many events
First was INEC officials showing up pretty late to polling units, voters’ nerves were fraying in some polling units before INEC officials showed up. In some polling units, voters had however organized themselves, got into a queue and numbered themselves accordingly. Then, card readers failed in some polling units. INEC had to resolve into manual accreditation eventually in those troubled units. One would think the card readers failed nationwide as it made headline discussions, but it only failed in less than 300 units from over 15,000 units. But hey, it failed the Jonathans as the President and his wife had to undergo manual accreditation in the end.
Then INEC process chain wasn’t fast and effective as expected. Some polling units did not start accreditation till 5pm and they had to stay till late into the night to vote. Magodo in Lagos, for instance voted late into the night. Voters in some axis of Lekki whose polling units did not start accreditation insisted on voting on Saturday, no matter how late, and they did.
The rain did not spare Saturday in Lagos. Torrents of it poured on voters on the mainland yet the people waited to vote as they were not deterred. With or without umbrellas, they waited. One would think that troubled spots like Maiduguri, Bama and Yola would have low turnout of voters due to Boko Haram scare. well, they defied all fear of terrorists attack and were on the streets to vote including their women. INEC also ensured that displaced people voted in their camps. One must also say sharp business men brought out grillers and made available some barbecue and grilled chicken for sale in Magodo.
Rivers state was in the news for not good reasons. Governor Rotimi Amaechi would not wait for accreditation unless he was shown the result sheets, he wasn’t shown, he did not vote. The APC candidate, Dakuku Riverside also did not vote, many others joined their claim that they did not vote. Wike of PDP doesn’t think so, he says election was credible and fair.
Well, as usual, Nigerians find humour and fun fair in everything, guy took to the polls to propose to his babe. She said “Yes”.
The election had been fair considering the level of apprehension before the elections. Nigerians should be commended for the patience, maturity and calmness exhibited even though there were logistics failings here and there. Meanwhile, Professor Atahiru Jega would be announcing conclusive results by 8pm tonight.