The local government elections in Niger State on Saturday were marred by violence, voter apathy and late arrival of materials in most of the local government areas across the state.

While some polling units witnessed voter apathy as a result of low turnout, violence and late arrival of election materials were the hallmark of the exercise.

Although the State Independent Electoral Commission (NSIEC) claimed that both sensitive and non-sensitive materials were distributed to all the local government areas 48 hours before the elections, the exercise, however, did not commence in most of the polling units visited by our correspondent at the scheduled time of 8:00am.

Also, reports from some local government areas indicated that materials were not even made available at the polling units.

This, however, triggered violence in local government areas like Magama, where the entire election materials were set ablaze by youths in the area, and Mokwa, where the elections in about five wards had to be moved to neighbouring Bida local government area.

In Magama local government, the angry residents were angered by reports of missing result sheets in the sensitive materials sent to Nasko, the headquarters of the local government.

The people accused state electoral officials of attempting to manipulate the election process and therefore went haywire, destroying the entire materials.

It was learnt that the INEC office was the target of the youths, but some critical stakeholders in the area pleaded with the youths that burning down the INEC office would affect the houses of innocent people.

An official of the Niger State Independent Electoral Commission (NSIEC), who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the development but claimed that they were able to salvage some of the sensitive materials, though materials for several polling units got burnt in the fire.

It was gathered that after the violence in Magama, the NSIEC officials in neighbouring Rijau refused to distribute the election materials for fear of being set ablaze by angry youths, who said their priority is security and not any election.

Rijau and Magama local governments have been under constant bandit attacks in the last few months, with over 50 people abducted and an unspecified number of cattle stolen.

The opposition parties in the state are yet to comment on the outcome of the election, but the special adviser on politics to the governor, Alhaji Nma Kolo, described the election as very peaceful and commended the state electoral body for a job well done.

“I want to give a big kudos to the umpires of the election, that is, the state electoral commission, for organising a transparent and credible election.

“They started well from the initial procedure of the process by engaging all the political parties, agreeing on the date of the election, and for the first time in the history of Niger State, the whole political parties in Niger State attended that meeting.”

He pointed out that despite the security challenges in parts of the state, elections went well in all the 274 political wards of the state, stressing that “we are happy to report here again that there is no ward in the state that is under any control by either bandits or whatever you call them. So we are able to reach out to 274 wards of the state. So that is a big plus to the state government for making everyone have a feel of that security.

“It has been very, very peaceful. I am happy so many of you went around. And I’m sure you will also agree with me that the process is almost 100% trouble-free.”

He confirmed the crisis in Magama local government but added that the situation was immediately brought under control to pave the way for a peaceful election. (Saturday Sun)