Elections may not hold in Niger East, North

Senatorial elections in Niger East and Niger North zones may not hold on Saturday as Independent National Electoral Commission said the ballot papers meant for the zones were missing on Friday.

“The issue has been reported to the INEC’s Headquarters in Abuja for urgent attention,” Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Samuel Egwu told newsmen in Minna.

“The officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria saddled with the responsibility of securing the electoral sensitive materials have gone to Abuja for the last batch of the sensitive materials for Saturday’s elections in the state, so we are waiting,’’ he added.

He further stated that 85 per cent of the needed facilities for the conduct of the elections in the state had been provided with the non-sensitive materials already moved to various destinations across the 25 local government areas of the state.

Ugwu said that the commission trained 23,000 ad hoc staff for the elections in the state while 2,181,400 eligible voters would participate in the elections.