Yiaga Africa’s Watching the Vote observation revealed critical challenges in the commencement of polls ranging from the late arrival of officials and delayed opening of polls to the shortage of election materials in some polling units. The late arrival of polling unit officials was exacerbated by the late deployment of the polling officials and election materials from the Registration Areas Centres (RACs) on election morning. In addition, as noted in our pre-election statement, voters who were migrated to new polling units by INEC experienced some difficulties locating their respective polling units.
On the eve of the election, Yiaga Africa also received reports of attacks in some communities in four(4) local government areas (LGA); Shiroro, Mariga, Magama and Raffi in Niger state, with Raffi LGA being the most hit. INEC relocated the polling units in the affected communities to a safer location to ensure voting continued.