By Abiola Olawale
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the extension of the voting time in areas where the voting process commenced late.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Saturday by the National Commissioner & Member of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna.
Haruna explained that the electoral body is monitoring the voting process and discovered that there were reports of late commencement in some locations.
The statement reads in part: “The Commission continues to monitor the ongoing governorship election in Edo State from our situation room at the National Headquarters in Abuja.
‘Our monitoring indicates early commencement of polls in many Polling Units, but there are also reports of late commencement in some locations.
“To ensure that no voter is disenfranchised, the Commission wishes to reiterate that, in line with our Regulations and Guidelines, voting will be extended wherever it commenced late and will continue until the last voter in the queue who arrived at the Polling Unit by 2.30 pm has voted.
“Accordingly, we have drawn the attention of our office in Edo State to ensure that, where necessary, there is adequate power supply from our backup electric generators in the affected Polling Units or Ward Collation Centres.”
The New Diplomat reports that this comes after several individuals raised alarm over the late arrival of INEC officials at some polling units.
It would be recalled that Dr Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) are among the leading candidates for the top job of Edo State.
