By : Muyiwa Adeyemi, Ibadan
Date:
9 March 2019 11:52am WAT
Electoral commission officers count votes at Shagari Health Unit polling station in Yola, Adamawa State on February 23, 2019 after the polls were closed during the day of the General elections. - Nigeria began counting votes in presidential elections, even as many people had yet to even cast their ballot because of delays in the opening of polling units and problems with staffing and technology. Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last week announced a one-week delay to the election, just hours before it was due to get under way. The presidential contest will see incumbent Muhammadu Buhari (APC) seek to win a second four-year term against former vice president Atiku Abubakar (PDP). (Photo by Luis TATO / AFP) / “The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [byline LUIS TATO] instead of [byline CRISTINA ALDEHUELA]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require.”
There was a shortfall of INEC ad hoc staff in Ibadan North West following the refusal of some staff used for last weekend to show up for today’s election.
As at 8 am, the officials of the electoral body were seen recruiting new staff and deploying them without any training.
According to officials at the venue, a good number of staff failed to turn up for the exercise forcing the LGA to seek for new ones.
The official who identified himself as Olusegun, said the poor turn out was due to fears on the part of the ad hoc staff.
“We have been deploying new ad hoc staff since yesterday,” he said.
“We cannot tell how many we have deployed so far, but we had to hire them because we don’t have enough to man the polling units,” Olusegun said.
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