By Nwabueze Okonkwo

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, defied an afternoon rain to cast his vote in the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

Ngige who arrived 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.

According to him, 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 give extension of time that is required as stated by INEC.

“That when you start late give up to that time, so, that is why am voting now. I think the people are enthusiastic to vote, the number is quite impressive. I think is going on well here.

“I have reports from other parts of the state from party leaders in Ogbaru, as at 2:00 p. m., they said INEC officials and materials were yet to arrive, especially in Okpoko area, that will be disastrous because Okpoko is highly populated area in Anambra North Senatorial zone”.

“Disenfranchising them will not be good, I want to appeal to INEC authorities and also contact the Residents Electoral Commissioner REC to see what they can do about that place”, he said.

Speaking on the effectiveness of the Biamodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS in conduct of the election, the Minister said that BVAS machine could not recognize his finger print and his face during last November Governorship election in Anambra state but is happy that BIVAS captured him so easily this time around.

Ngige appealed to electoral umpire at polling station 006 and 008, where voters were protesting that INEC officials were threatening to wind up without allowing them to vote.

He pleaded with INEC officials to extend their time to capture those who have been accredited since they didn’t arrived on time for voting process.

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 30 minutes time they will wind up the voting exercise.