The House of Representatives supplementary election in Rivers State was held on Saturday.
It was an election that recorded low turnout of voters due to violence and snatching of ballot boxes in earlier elections.
The election was held in Port Harcourt Federal Constituency in Rivers State.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), voters were unwilling to exercise their franchise.
In Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Ward 5 (Port Harcourt Township) election commenced at 8:30am.
However, as of 11:26am, only a few voters had come out to cast their votes.
Similarly, Polling Units 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, and 88 of the same ward barely saw voters.
Although the election environment was peaceful and orderly with the presence of the Police, many still refused to vote.
Some of the voters, who spoke with NAN attributed the voter apathy to doubts over the transparency in the conduct of the elections.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agent in Unit 3 Ward 5, Micha Kalio, spoke on the low turnout.
He blames it partly on the outcome of the February 25 and March 18 elections.
“Most people in the state are not even aware that the election is holding today,” he adds.
According to NAN, some opposition parties in the state, including the All Progressives Party (APC) boycott the supplementary elections.
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They allege a lack of transparency by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the gubernatorial elections.
2023 Election
On February 25, the presidential election was held in all 36 states of Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory.
Later on March 18, gubernatorial elections were held in 28 states in Nigeria, including Rivers.
However, the election in Rivers was marred by electoral violence, including the snatching of ballot boxes.
The electoral violence started during the presidential election and a few weeks later, the same was witnessed during the state election.
As a result, many voters refused to show up for the supplementary elections in the state.
