Assembly Election 2023: Voter apathy mars Imo polls

The State House of Assembly poll in Imo, in the early hours of Saturday, recorded a very low turnout in most of the 16 Local Governments in the State.

This is even as the late arrival of the staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission and electoral materials have undermined the integrity of the process.

Information gathered from people monitoring the exercise observed that prospective voters are dissatisfied with the absence of INEC officials at polling stations.

At booths 008, 009 and 020 in the Ihiagwa Community in the Owerri West Local Government Area of the state, our correspondent saw no INEC staff as some people waited to vote.

One of the voters, Obinna Unegbu, expressed dissatisfaction that officials of INEC had yet to arrive at his booth 008 and 009 as of 10 am.

He said he and his people would wait to vote even if it took INEC till 10 pm to show up.

At booth 020, a community leader, Emeka Udokporo, said that he was worried that INEC staff had yet to arrive at the station as of 10:3am.

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He advised INEC to ensure that all eligible voters are given the opportunity to vote.

At booths 001 and 002, INEC staff arrived around 11:30 am.

The electoral materials were being sorted as of the time our correspondent arrived.

Speaking, the candidate of the Labour Party for the Owerri West House of Assembly election, Precious Opara, said that he was not satisfied with the late arrival of electoral materials.

He said, “I am not satisfied with the late arrival materials. This is my catchment area. This could be a ploy to mar my chances of winning but I am confident of victory anyway”.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance candidate, Ekene Umunnakwe, said that despite the late arrival of the INEC staff, his people were committed to voting for him.