Late voting at Akwa Ibom Assembly polls

Voting in the rescheduled state House of Assembly elections in Ukanafun Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, did not start on time in many wards.Elections in many wards commenced around 5pm when the residents who were mostly farmers returned from their different farms.Politicians and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commissions moved into the residences to ask farmers and their families to come for voting.A Peoples Democratic Party member in Ward 7, Unit 10, Ikot Udo Mbang, Mr. Wisdom Samuel, told our correspondent that voting in his ward started some few minutes before 5:pm.According to Samuel, the majority of the people in the area are farmers. He added that if voting was to commence before the farmers returned from their farms, negligible number of voters would have been recorded.He said, “Voting actually started late. The electoral officers had to wait for farmers to return from farms before voting began.“The election was free and fair. There were no ballot box snatches and all the candidates conducted themselves peace, though the actual contest was between All Progressives Congress and PDP candidates, they conducted themselves in a manner that was worthy of emulation,” he said.The APC member, Mr. Okon Edet, confirmed that voting started late. He said that in his Ward 1, Unit 4 and5, voting was still ongoing as at 5:40pm.He added that there was no violence, ballot snatching and intimidation as there was heavy presence of security agencies in the area.The Ukanafun election was rescheduled following the murder of APC candidate and former Deputy Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr. Okon Uwah, on March 17, when he went for consultation in his Ward Three, Ukanafun.Those standing for the election are Otobong Akpan PDP and Kufre Umo of APC.