The supplementary election in Port Harcourt Federal Constituency 2, Rivers State, on Saturday suffered from severe voter apathy. Our correspondent, who visited several wards and polling units, observed only a handful of voters. At St Andrews Primary School in Diobu, Ward 11, Unit 24 had accredited just six voters by 9:44 a.m., while Unit 25 had only 12 accredited by 9:50 a.m. In contrast, Unit 27 recorded 28 accredited voters at 9:46 a.m. In Ward 5, Units 8 and 9 (Open Space, Creek Road), INEC officials and voting materials arrived early, yet by 9:53 a.m. no voter had cast a ballot.
In Ward 10, Unit 29 of PHALGA—an area with over 700 registered voters—only three people had voted by 10:03 a.m. Units 30 and 64 reported no accredited voters at all. At Mile 3, Units 41 and 42, accreditation began at 8:30 a.m.; by 10:30 a.m., only four voters had cast ballots in a unit with 709 voters, and Unit 42 had just three voters by 10:04 a.m. in a polling station with 704 registered voters. In Unit 71, accreditation started at 8:50 a.m., but by 10:07 a.m. only one person had voted.
Around 12:45 p.m., two army patrol vans with armed personnel were stationed in front of the RAC Center at Elekahia Primary School when our correspondent arrived. In Khana Local Government Area, voting and accreditation began in Ward 7, Unit 15 (Bagha community) and simultaneously in Ward 4, Unit 5 (Sogho community). Earlier, a town crier had circulated through Lumene and Bagha communities urging registered voters to turn out.
Khana LGA saw a heavy security presence, which many voters complained made the atmosphere feel like a war zone. One voter, identified as Savior, questioned the large security deployment: “Why is there so much presence of security operatives here? This alone can scare voters from coming out. Are we in a war situation? It is not necessary and you can see that our people are afraid of coming out.”
Chairman of Khana LGA, Dr. Thomas Bariere, responded to the concerns, explaining that the security personnel were deployed to prevent any violence, recalling the disturbances during the main elections held in the area last month. He said, “In order to avoid a repeat of what happened that led to this rescheduled election, security operatives must be deployed in sufficient numbers to secure the area, election materials, and personnel, so that the process will be peaceful. The voters are ready and they are voting as you can see they are going to their different polling units. Thank God the BVAS is working fine and fast. We are confident that, within the time given by INEC, voting will start and conclude.”
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