General Voter Apathy Pervades Polls In Cross River State

By Aplefe Ojong

An embarrassing and extremely suffocating level of voter apathy characterized yesterday’s Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Cross River State.

Some of the Presiding Officers and Collation Officers who spoke with CrossRiverWatch, but pleaded anonymity for security reasons revealed that there was an extremely low turn out of voters in this elections compared with the March 28 elections.

For instance,in units 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27,42 and 43 and a polling unit at Palm street, Calabar, all in Ward 12 of Calabar South, and unit Eight, Ward 1 of Calabar Municipality where this reporter visited and monitored the elections, there was a general and clear voter apathy.

In the said areas or polling units, the lowest of 24 voters were said to be accredited in unit 25, Ward 12, while the highest among the units visited in terms of accreditation was unit 43, Ward 12 where a total of 151 voters were accredited.

Throughout Cross River State from the south through the central to the northern part of the state, information reaching CrossRiverWatch showed that there was a general apathy in the April 11, 2015 elections.

Many of the persons who spoke with CrossRiverWatch but would not want their names in the report complained bitterly that their votes did not count in the March 28, 2015 general elections, as what finally was announced was quite different from the mandate of the people of the state, hence there was no need for them to waste their time when the authority possess the magic to cook results.

Meanwhile, information reaching us from a polling unit in Ward 7, along Marina road, Calabar South said that an APC agent was yesterday’s afternoon whisked away on the order of the DPO of Atakpa, just as result sheets were said to have been conspicuously missing from the election materials given to the polling unit.

The APC candidate for the Calabar South 1, House of Assembly when reached confirmed the arrest of the APC agent, and explained that he has spoken with the DPO of Atakpa who confirmed the arrest, but had not told him the reason behind the arrest or the offence of the APC agent.