The fear of voter apathy heightened in Abuja on Saturday following a low turnout of voters in Apo polling unit 120 in the Federal Capital Territory.
Unlike in other wards and units where anxious voters wore long faces while waiting for the arrival of ad-hoc workers of the Independent National Electoral Commission, our correspondent met an empty polling booth where INEC officials sat waiting for residents to turn up.
The unit, which is located in Blooms Vine Estate, is squatting directly opposite the popular Apo mechanic village.
The presiding INEC officer on duty, Eberechi Nwosu, explained their predicament when they encountered our reporter in the vicinity.
She told our correspondence that only 13 eligible voters had come for accreditation since they arrived at the unit with security operatives at 8.58 am.
Nwosu also stated that as of 12.45 pm, only five persons of the 13 voters had cast their ballots with no sign of other prospective electorates showing up two hours before our correspondent arrived.
She said, “We have been sitting in the last three hours and have so far accredited 13 persons. However, only five of them returned to vote. We are still hopeful that the others would come too. But if we don’t see them, we will count the votes and pack our things.”
Sitting close to the INEC officials were security operatives and a young man, who identified himself as Nuru Nathaniel, a polling agent for the Peoples Democratic Party.
Punch
