Suleja residents happy with peaceful elections

Voters in Suleja town of Niger State have described Saturday’s presidential National Assembly elections as the most smoothest and most peaceful exercise recorded in the area since the nation’s return to democracy in 1999. Some of the residents who spoke with our reporter attributed the development to the early commencement of the exercise at most […]

Voters in Suleja town of Niger State have described Saturday’s presidential National Assembly elections as the most smoothest and most peaceful exercise recorded in the area since the nation’s return to democracy in 1999.

Some of the residents who spoke with our reporter attributed the development to the early commencement of the exercise at most all of the 130 polling units  in the council.

They said voters’ accreditation and voting took place simultaneously against the previous practice of accreditation before voting.

The voters also commended the INEC’s provision of two Smart Card Readers in most of the voting points which sped the process. As early as 3pm many polling units in Suleja metropolis had already commenced votes sorting procedure.

A voter at Madaki polling unit near the Emir’s palace in Suleja, Muhammad Jamil, said another unique thing about the exercise was sanity, particularly in the area of security. He said the riot act read out to security agencies by President Muhammadu Buhari, to deal ruthlessly with all kinds of election saboteurs, especially ballot box snatchers, assisted positively.

Another voter at Kwamba area on the outskirts of the town, James Alegbemi, said “I exercised my franchise without passing through usual hitches, rushing or encountering any fight. He said the security men deployed at the polling unit where he voted, just opposite INEC area office Suleja, remained idle most of the time as there was not course for alarm to warrant their intervention.

“I finished my voting at 11am and left the scene along with my wife who did her own even ahead of me,” he added.

There was, however, disruption of the exercise at Daguru and Numbatukura units under Maje district in the area, reportedly by some thugs. The Suleja Area Electoral Officer (E.O) Mr. Moses Olubiyo, confirmed the two incidents but said they were swiftly handled by the police.