The FCT Area Council elections in Kubwa, Bwari Area Council, were marked by widespread voter apathy and technical glitches with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
At Polling Unit 044, located at LEA Primary School, Kubwa II, a mere 50 voters had been accredited and cast their ballots out of a registered population of over 700.
Presiding Officer Abdulmalik Hussaini confirmed the dismal numbers, describing the turnout as “very, very low.”
He noted that despite the polls opening promptly at 8:30 a.m., the expected wave of voters simply never materialized.
“We were here since 8:30 am. The turnout is very, very low. As of now, we have only 50 accredited voters on our BVAS. But regardless, when it is 2:30 pm, we will close voting as instructed,” he said.
Also at Polling Unit 048, the Presiding Officer, Ahmed Tijjani Baba, lamented the low turnout, pointing out that only 50 people had been accredited to vote out of over 750 registered voters.
At Polling Unit 046, where 770 voters were registered, the Presiding Officer, Abdullahi Yusuf, told our correspondent that there were challenges with the BVAS, which delayed the accreditation of voters.
In Karu, “fleeting glitches” with the BVAS machines slowed voting to a crawl.
The devices often captured biometric data without successfully accrediting the voter.
At one point, four consecutive voters were unable to verify their fingerprints or photos, while a fifth faced a two-minute delay before the system finally responded.
The technical failure was compounded by a lack of support; Yusuf, a polling official, noted that the RAC Technician was unavailable and their phone line was out of reach.
“We have been trying to reach the RAC tech to help us address the BVAS, but he has not been reachable. So, that is the challenge we are having,” he said.
He also pointed out a lack of basic logistics, noting that electoral officers were not provided with chairs or canopies.
This oversight forced them to source furniture from nearby classrooms and left them vulnerable to harassment by security personnel.
Voting, however, commenced shortly after their arrival.
At the Durumi I AMAC unit, the local Village Head, Yohanna Ishaku, voiced his frustration over the late arrival of electoral materials and staff.
“I hope the INEC officials will not say they are leaving by 2:30 p.m.,” he noted, calling the delay “unfair.”
Despite these logistical hurdles, Nkechi Chime, an SDP polling agent on-site, expressed satisfaction with how the voting was progressing.
This positive sentiment was echoed by Police Commissioner Abayomi Shogunle, who is overseeing election monitoring and planning.
Shogunle described the exercise as “smooth,” noting that a robust deployment of personnel has been maintained to ensure a hitch-free process.
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