FCT elections: Late start trails voting at L.E.A Primary School, Jikwoyi

2026-02-21 - 08:56

By Gift ChapiOdekina Voting commenced behind schedule at L.E.A Primary School, Jikwoyi Polling Unit 014 in the ongoing Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory, following delays linked to logistical and administrative challenges. As of 9:21 a.m., accreditation and voting had yet to begin at the polling unit, despite the official commencement time of 8:30 a.m. Voters who arrived early were seen waiting patiently while electoral officials worked to sort out documentation and crowd control issues. Speaking with journalists, Mr. Akpam Patrick of Polling Unit 014 attributed the delay to staffing constraints and the overwhelming number of registered voters at the unit. “First of all, we had a new legislation issue and we are a bit short-handed right now because of the amount of registered voters,” he said. When asked if that meant there were not enough officials from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), he clarified: “Not that there are not enough... we are short-staffed at the moment because the amount of voters is overwhelming the amount of voting officials here.” According to him, the process of pasting and arranging the voters’ register consumed a significant amount of time due to the volume of registered voters. “We have to take serious time to paste the whole names. That’s what’s taking most of the time right now. Because just in this polling unit, we have over 2,000 voters. So it’s strenuous on us to handle this,” he explained. Although voting was expected to end by 2:30 p.m., officials assured voters that efforts were underway to commence the process as soon as possible. “We’ll try our best to start voting as soon as possible,” Akpam said. Another official, Mr. Muhammed Zakari, identified as APO1, noted that part of the delay stemmed from attempts to decongest the polling unit, particularly involving voters who had changed their polling units. “We are trying to decongest the polling unit. Some voters have changed their polling unit. They are trying to vote out and check their name before coming to accredit. That’s the problem,” he said. He explained that many voters were moving between units to confirm their names on the register before returning for accreditation. “In the process now, when they change the polling unit, you must go there to check your name. So when they check their name, it’s not on the register. So they’ve been going around to check their names. That’s the problem.” As of the time of filing this report, officials said accreditation was about to commence once the posting of names and verification processes were completed. Despite the late start, voters remained orderly, expressing hope that the process would proceed smoothly once voting began.