Plateau North rerun: Absence of materials triggers tension among disenfranchised voters

Despite the peaceful atmosphere of the rerun election in Plateau North, the absence of election materials has disenfranchised some residents from exercising their civil rights in the ongoing exercise.

DAILY POST recalls that the election is being held for the Plateau North senatorial zone and the House of Representatives for the Jos North/Bassa federal constituency.

DAILY POST interviewed some residents in some communities in Jos who complained that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, disenfranchised many voters.

The Commissioner for Lands and Survey in the state, Peter Gai, was among those who accused INEC of compromising the process.

Gai said: ”This is short of saying INEC has compromised this process; we discovered that in some polling units, the papers for senate were brought while those of house representatives were not brought at all.

”We sought an explanation from the polling agents, but they couldn’t give us any satisfactory answer. There are polling units where INEC officials didn’t come at all. For example, at Polling Unit 012 in Kanong community, Jos North Local Government Area, we didn’t see anybody.

“So, for us, honestly, INEC must come clean and ensure that the correct thing is done because a lot of people are denied the right to exercise their democratic rights.”

Similarly, at Polling Unit 052, Rock Haven community, also in Jos North LGA, residents refused to vote over incomplete election materials.

The residents who demanded that INEC provide the complete election materials refused to let the electoral official leave the unit.

Another respondent, Mrs Susan Adamu, said that the polling unit has 1,728 registered voters, but the INEC officials came with only 100 ballot papers for the House of Representatives poll.

She also alleged that officials arrived at the polling unit without report sheets and sensible materials.

”We have placed several calls to INEC but received no response, and this is why we decided they won’t leave here until our materials are complete and we cast our votes,” she said.

The polling agent, Miss Hannah Anthony, said the electoral officer for the LGA had instructed her to go to the polling unit and commence the election, promising to deliver the remaining materials afterwards.

”When we arrived at this place, the people insisted that all the materials be available before voting could commence. We have called the EO several times without a positive response up until now,” she said.

As of the time of filing this report, the aforementioned issues are yet to be addressed.