On the Election day, 25th February, 2023, Garki modern market in Abuja had two polling units, with both polling units opposite each other, one at the exit and the other at the entrance gate.
The polling units witnessed different levels of turn out; one was crowded, while the other had no voter in sight.
At the first polling unit, the INEC staff were spotted sitting down idly with their materials, while waiting for voters to arrive, on the other side was a rowdy crowd, seen arguing and almost fighting themselves in the process of voting.
The officials at the less congested polling unit when asked, said they could not explain the reason for the low turnout of voters but suspect that some must have wrongly gone to the opposite polling unit out of ignorance.
While directly opposite the second polling unit, was a crowd of over 2000 voters in a long queue waiting for their turn to cast their votes.
One of the voters, Mary Okeke, who was yet to vote said, she and other prospective voters had been waiting for hours to cast their votes and that the INEC officials were said to have missed their polling unit for another one.
Another voter Ameh John, complained that the queue was disorganized in spite of the efforts of the police to control the crowd.
Some voters had questions, as to why two polling units in one location were having very different turnout of voters.
Story : Ihuoma Ukeje
