A yet-to-be identified voter has been reportedly shot dead at the ongoing Isoko South constituency 1 bye-election in Delta State.
The Union Nigeria understands that the voter was allegedly shot by armed hoodlums who invaded a polling unit in Irri, near Oleh, headquarters of Isoko South LGA.
Eyewitness account says the incident happened at about 3:15pm when the armed hoodlums stormed Irri Ward 10, polling unit 5, to snatch ballot papers used for the election.
According to the eyewitness, the hoodlums armed with AK-47 riffles shot sporadically in the air to scare away voters before one of them shoot the victim for reasons yet to be established.
It was not clear if the victim would survive the gun shot after he was rushed into a bus and ferried away to an undisclosed hospital.
In the ensuing commotion, the hoodlums, according to the eyewitness went away with the voting materials.
Sources said that gun shots and violence characterized the election in some part of the constituency including Emede where election materials were also snatched.
State Police Public Relation Officer, DSP Edafe Bright could not be reach and was yet to reply to message sent to him for confirmation of this report as of press time.
Details later…
INEC Machines Didn’t Flop, Of 84 Devices, Only 8 Had Glitches – Delta Rec
Meanwhile, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Delta State for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Monday Udoh-Tom has reacted to report that Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) deployed for Isoko South constituency 1 bye-election, failed to accredit eligible voters.
The Union Nigeria understands that INEC newly introduced Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the election, is reportedly rejecting Permanent Voters Card (PVC) of eligible voters.
This medium had reported that the BVAS device which ought to simultaneously accredit voters with both fingerprints and photos to ensure the authenticity of the votes, is failing in some polling units across Isoko South 1 LGA, Delta State.
But Udoh-Tom who spoke in a telephone conversation with BIGPENNGR, said that though there was some technical glitches experience in some polling units, the exercise has been smooth in most part of the constituency.
He disclosed that the technical problem experienced in some areas which has been sorted out, came from just eight BVAS out of 84 that were deployed saying that to generalize that the machines flopped in the ongoing election was unfair.
He said “out of 84 polling units, 8 BVAS had issues. Four were as a result of wrong positioning of the cameras. It means that the voter position for snapping was noisy, meaning, the background of the pictures does not conform With BVAS requirements”.
According to him, four of the machines were later replaced to enable voting to commence, maintaining that no one was disenfranchised in the polling units that experienced the technical problem from the device.
Recalls some eligible voters who trooped out en masse to exercise their civic responsibility had raised the alarm that they could not be accredited as the new accreditation device failed to recognize their Permanent Voters Card (PVC).
One of our correspondent monitoring the election reports that the machine failed accreditation at Unit 15 Oleh Ward 1 and Unit 8 ward 1 as at time of filling the report.
At Unit 15 ward 1, an angry voter told our correspondent that he was shocked to discover that his name was not found in the voter’s register.
He said that his card could also not be accredited by the machine.
The development could lead to the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters across the constituency, he said.
“I came here to vote only to discover that my name was not even in the register. The Machine could not even accept my card. Since morning, only very few persons have been able to vote”, an angry voter who gave his name as Ibomor Emmanuel, said.
The Delta constituency bye-election is adjudged as a test case for INEC preparedness to deploy it’s new technology for the 2023 general election and Anambra State Governorship election which is around the corner.
Source: BIGPENNGR
