The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Saturday defied an afternoon rain to cast his vote in the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Ngige, who arrived at his Nkwo-Ide Public Square, Alor Ward 1, polling station 0010 at about 2:57 p.m., said he voted for his choice of candidates.
“I voted for candidates of my choice, according to my conscience, the exercise is very peaceful, the exercise started late, I have come here around 10 a. m. the officers were not here.
“I think they have some logistics problem, they started around 12 p. m. I think Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should extend to make up for the lost time..
“I think the people are enthusiastic to vote the number is quite impressive. I think is going on well here”, he said.
According to him reports of Ogbaru, as at 2:00 p. m., indicates that INCE officials and materials were yet to arrive, especially in Okpoko area.
“That will be disastrous because Okpoko is highly populated area in Anambra North.
“Disenfranchising them will not be good, I want to appealed to INEC authorities and also contact the Residents Electoral Commissioner (REC) to see what they can do about that place”, he said.
Ngige appealed to the electoral empire at polling station 006 and 008, where voters were protesting that INEC officials were threatening to wind up without allowing them to vote.
He urged the INEC officials to extend their time to capture those who have been accredited.
The Presiding Officer in the polling station, Kenneth John, said that there are 328 registered voters in Ngige’s polling station, out of which 105 had already voted, adding that in the next 30 minutes voting would end.
