Residents of wards 4 and 6 in the Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have protested the absence of electoral materials at their polling units.

FIJ had obtained a video showing voters scattered around with no INEC official in sight at 11:23 am. About an hour later, FIJ learned that the youths had begun a peaceful protest in the Yenagoa metropolis to demand that their rights to vote be respected.

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Roland Ofiyou, one of the voters protesting, told FIJ that “all the youths want to do is vote”.

“We must exercise our civic duty. INEC must allow the youths to cast their votes,” he said.

He said that the protest started from Ompadec, Amarata, and that protesters were heading to the INEC headquarters in Swali, all in the state’s capital, to demand that their rights be respected.

Another voter, Sotonye Julius, told FIJ that the protesters passed through the Bayelsa Medical University where her polling unit was located, and that members of her polling unit joined the protests, having waited several hours for no-show INEC officials.

Julius said before the protesters arrived her polling unit, some young boys first came and destroyed the canopy set up for voters to camp, threatening that voting would not occur. She said according to them, INEC was trying to rig the election against their principal and that was why they did not provide electoral materials for the House of Representatives election.

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At 1:36 pm, Tepinmo Ben Osain, another voter, told FIJ that INEC officials had yet to arrive her polling unit in Ekeki. She said from Ekeki to Yenezuegene, all in Yenagoa, polling units were yet to receive any electoral materials.

Many voters in the said areas reported the dearth of INEC officials and electoral materials, adding that there were no electoral materials for the House of Representatives.

Acquah Nana Yeboah, a party agent in Ward 5, Yenagoa Local Government Area, said the elections were going smoothly in his ward. He said he had visited about five different polling units, and everything seemed to be going well.

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Yeboah, however, said that some young boys came to his polling unit and told the people that they did not care who they voted for the presidency but they had to vote for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the other offices.

According to him, the boys said “they don’t have any business with the presidency, as long as the people do not vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

“According to them, Atiku and Obi are friends. Anyone who wins is fine. They just want the people to vote the PDP for both the Senate and House of Representatives,” he said.

Yeboah also noted that several people in his ward just found out about the change of their polling units after arriving their former polling units.

He said the electoral commission did not do well in moving people to polling units. “A lot of people are just finding out that they have been moved to different polling units. Some who were supposed to vote in Biogbolo were moved to polling units in Igbogene and Akenfa,” he said.

He said these were far-off distances, and that with the restrictions placed on movement, several voters had been disenfranchised as they could not go to their polling units.

“In my polling unit, for instance, there are only 25 accredited voters. INEC could have moved those from polling units with large number of voters to polling units with fewer ones around the same area, like my polling unit. They are just pushing people to faraway places.”