Following late arrival of materials at some polling centres around the country , YIAGA AFRICA Watching The Vote has called on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend the voting period across board to ensure that all eligible voters exercise their franchise.
The Chair, YIAGA Africa Watching The Vote Dr Hussaini Abdu during the Mid -day Situational statement observed that Voting which was expected to ordinarily be conducted from 8am to 2pm, which is approximately 6 hours of voting.
She said in view of the late opening of polls, INEC should ensure clear communication on an extension of the time for close of polls to all polling officials and the public.
She said this is also important to ensure that there are no further delays at the point of collation.
She said INEC needs to address issues relating to missing names on the voters register and non payment of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) drivers who were expected to support the deployment of election materials and personnel to polling stations.
On Independent Observation , shesaid INEC is encouraged to remind Resident Electoral Commissioners to instruct all election officials under their supervision to allow accredited citizen observers to access polling units in accordance with the electoral law.
Also, the Executive Director of YIAGA AFRICA Samson Itodo commended Nigerians for their resilience and commitment to vote in this election.
“ We call on voters who are yet to turn out to vote to proceed to their polling units before 2pm confident that the PVT will provide timely, statistically representative information about the conduct of the election as well as an independent check on the accuracy of the officially announced results.
“YIAGA AFRICA Watching The Vote will continue to observe the process to the end. Our observers will remain at polling units until accreditation, voting, and counting are completed and the official results have been announced and posted by the polling officials,” she said.