Former President of South Africa, Mr Thabo Mbeki, who is leading the Commonwealth Election Observation Mission to Nigeria, expressed concern over the hitches he noticed at various polling units in Abuja.

Mbeki, who gave his assessment of the Presidential and National Assembly elections, at the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, decried the late arrival of polling materials and INEC officials at the polling units he visited.

He noted that whereas officials of the electoral body got late to the respective polling units he visited, he said it took over an hour before electorates were eventually allowed to cast their ballot.

He said: “We arrived at the second polling unit around 10am, the same time as the INEC. When we got to the third one, they just arrived and that was around 11:30am. When we left, only two people had voted.

“Part of what was the issue was that the officials had to stamp the voters papers and sign them, but their ink was dry. He had to make a call. As we were there, another official came and said their pad for the thumbprint was also dry.

“At that point, a police officer that was standing next to me said it was too early for the ink to dry up. Hopefully, they would sort out the problem.

“The point we are making is that where we went, the officials arrived late and it took a lot of time for people to vote.”