Lagos, Nigeria – Logistical errors are being cited by officials of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) as the cause for late arrival and delayed voting in at least 15 polling units during Saturday’s Local Government elections in the Abule Egba and Meiran areas of the state.
Voter accreditation was officially slated to begin at 8:00 am across polling units, with voting to follow shortly after. However, correspondents monitoring the situation along Old Ota Road to Abule Egba and parts of Meiran observed significant delays, with many electoral officials arriving considerably late.
At Polling Unit 047 at Kabowe Bus Stop in Meiran, the process had not commenced by 9:30 am, and the venue appeared deserted. Similar scenarios were reported at Polling Unit 029 at Captain Bus Stop, Polling Unit 107 on Unity Street, and Polling Unit 028, all in the Olota area, where LASIEC officials had not arrived by 10:00 am. Further delays, pushing voting until around 10:30 am, were noted at several polling units along Ekoro Road leading towards Abule Egba Junction.
In separate interviews, some LASIEC officials attributed their late arrival to issues such as incorrect sorting of materials, deployment to wrong addresses, and even fuel shortages. Grace Tolape, the Presiding Officer at Polling Unit 039 at Meiran Bus Stop, explained, “We were at the local government office to sort out the election equipment, but the location directions given to us weren’t clear. So, we had to call the office again to get a clearer description of our polling unit. That’s why we got here late.” She also expressed concern over low voter turnout, with fewer than 30 votes cast by midday out of over 1,000 registered voters.
Owolabi Isaac, a Polling Clerk at Unit 017 on Ekoro Road, blamed a “logistics blunder” involving discrepancies between external envelope numbers and internal polling unit numbers for his team’s delay and significant physical stress. Another anonymous LASIEC official at Polling Unit 07 reported that her team’s vehicle ran out of fuel due to misdirection, while an official at Polling Unit 034 cited differing codes between INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) and LASIEC, and inadequate transport arrangements, as reasons for the delays.
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