UMUAHIA – Minister of State for Defence, Col. Austin Akobundu (rtd), said security agencies’ performance in Saturday’s elections would be appraised to ensure improved arrangement for April 11 governorship and states’ assemblies polls.
Akobundu made this known while commenting on the conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections in an interview with newsmen) in Oloko, Abia.
According to him, the security agencies will do an appraisal and take care of the lapses to ensure smooth and hitch-free polls on April 11.
He said that although no two elections were the same, ‘’we will learn from Saturday’s elections in our preparations for the remaining elections.
‘’It is expected that we will have a peaceful governorship and state assemblies elections.’’
The minister, who voted at the Oloko Community Primary School polling unit in Ward 1, described the exercise as ‘’very peaceful’’.
He said that the card readers ‘’worked very well’’ though it took four attempts before it recognised and accredited him.
He expressed hope that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would respond to the challenges of the device in order to correct them ahead of the next elections.
Similarly, a chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state, Chief Reagan Ufomba, commended the peaceful conduct of Saturday’s elections.
Ufomba said that there was no violence during the exercise in the state, unlike the 2011 polls, which were characterised by violence.
He commended the performance of the card reader, saying that it worked ‘’perfectly well’’ in his Umuoghele Community Primary School centre, where he voted.
He said that his accreditation and his wife’s were done in less than a minute, adding that INEC’s innovations in the conduct of elections had brought positive changes.
He said that some of the introductions had checked the incidents of ballot box snatching and other electoral fraud.