The Saturday, February 21 election in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has been characterized by voter apathy and delayed deployment of election materials in some polling units within the city centre.
Polling units visited by our Correspondent in Garki were virtually empty and INEC officials sitting idle, except in Area 1 Primary School where significant number of voters were lined up for accreditation and voting.
At Polling Unit 008, National Library in Area 2, where 2122 voters are registered, only 51 were accredited and cast their votes as at 12:26 pm, barely two hours to the conclusion of the exercise.
A similar situation was observed at most of the polling units in Garki Village where the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Joash Amupitan, monitored the exercise.
At polling unit 039 located in Lagos Street, Garki Village, only 16 voters were able to cast their votes as at 11:45, with no other voter in sight for accreditation and voting.
Speaking on the development, the All Progressives Congress, APC, polling agent at unit 016 on Muhammadu Buhari Way, Garki, Hon. Stephen Osadebe, expressed concern over the low turnout, describing it as unacceptable for a polling unit with thousands of registered voters.
“We have a lot of voter apathy, which we are not comfortable with. A polling unit will have over 3,000 people and only about 30 will come out,” Osadebe said.
Osadebe was speaking with INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, who was monitoring the exercise at Garki, Abuja.
The APC agent urged INEC to intensify voter mobilisation efforts ahead of the 2027 general election to avoid a repeat.
He stressed that democracy suffers when citizens fail to participate, insisting that votes must count but can only do so when people turn out in large numbers to vote.
He also faulted logistics at the polling unit, noting that election materials arrived around 8:39 a.m. and that basic items such as chairs and canopy were not adequately provided.
