2023 Governorship Election: Low Turnout As 22 BVAS Machines Declared Missing In Rivers

Low turnout of voters have marred the ongoing governorship and state house of assembly elections in Rivers State.

Rivers State is among the 28 states choosing their governors while it joins 36 states electing members of the state houses of assemblies across the country.

The state was under intense political tension following accusation of suppression of members of other political parties by the state governor, Nyesom Wike, prompting protest march to the police headquarters by candidates of leading political parties.

Our Correspondent reports that there were empty polling units with youths seen playing football on the streets.

At commencement of voting exercise, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Johnson Alalibo, told journalists and representatives of election observers that 22 of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS, in the state had gone missing.

He stated that over 6865 of the machines deployed to the state have been successfully reconfigured for the polls.

According to him, three of the accreditation machines were damaged beyond repairs, and cannot be used for the polls.

Alalibo however assured that the commission had enough back-up systems, to replace the missing machines, while restating that voting won’t be affected.

The APC had won the presidential election in the state but its governorship candidate, Tonye Cole is squaring up against the PDP and the Labour Party, in what was declared a three-horse race.