Voters in Rivers State have expressed their determination and interest in participating in the presidential and National Assembly elections.
A cross-section of voters, party agents and unit coordinators who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria on Saturday expressed their views about today’s elections.
A voter, who simply identified herself as Miss Chioma, said that though the cashless policy was biting hard both on the poor and the rich, she foresaw a huge success of the exercise.
She said that today was very significant in the life of every Nigerian to come out and exercise their franchise to vote for a new set of leaders to take over from the outgoing ones.
Another electorate, Mr James Emenike, said that it was an interesting thing for Nigerians to be allowed to exercise their franchise today, adding that everything would be okay.
On her part, Miss Beatrice Nwachi, the Unit Coordinator of Unit 19, Ward 17 in Obio/Akpo local government of Rivers, said that the elections in the area would be successful, free, fair and credible.
‘’Everything will be fine, peaceful and successful, there is no cause for alarm, the electorate are turning out to cast their votes,’’ she said.
She said they were waiting for INEC officials to come with their materials for the exercise.
Nwachi said that despite the cash crunch and the fuel situation, Nigerians were hopeful to come out in their numbers to exercise their franchise.
A PDP agent, Mr Sonny Eze, said that he was hopeful that the exercise would be peaceful and successful as previous elections held in the area had always been successful.
‘’Even in previous elections we have done here, there was no issue, everything went well, this one will also go well, we are only waiting for INEC and materials,’’ he said.
He said that the election was officially slated for 9 a.m., but because of the increase in the number of units from 23 to 56, there would be pressure on INEC to cover the units, which would cause some form of delay.
He called on the voters to exercise some patience, adding that everything would be okay for them to vote.
Support InfoStride News' Credible Journalism: Only credible journalism can guarantee a fair, accountable and transparent society, including democracy and government. It involves a lot of efforts and money. We need your support. Click here to Donate