About 24 hours after the opening of polls in Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections in Lagos State, no single result from the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) has arrived at the State Collation Centre.
Prof. Adenike Oladiji, the State Collation Officer and Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) disclosed this during the official opening of the centre for final collation of election results in Lagos State at about 12.00 a.m. on Sunday.
Oladiji, who described the collation as a serious assignment, said that the centre was still awaiting results from all the 20 LGAs as at midnight.
The professor said: ”This is a serious national assignment that has brought us together here.
”It is also an assignment that is of international importance, and that explains why we have international observers here with us.
”Our job is simple. If we follow the well laid out procedures of INEC, we know it is very simple and easy.
”It is a call to duty, it is a national assignment and we hope that we will not fail our country. As we can all see, the result are not here yet.
”So that we wont keep ourselves just waiting expecting the results, we are proposing that we reconvene tomorrow (Sunday) at 10.am.
”We know that by that time some of our results will be here and we will be able to process them all in this hall.”
Earlier in his opening address, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos State, who commended the state collation officer, said that collation was at various stages in the state.
According to Agbaje, at the end, Nigerians will be happy that INEC has done a lot to ensure that people are allowed to vote in spite of few hitches.
”We want to assure Nigerians that their votes will count,” the commissioner said.
Newsmen reports that the State Collation Centre for the 2023 Presidential Election in Lagos State is situated at INEC Media Centre at the commission’s headquarters in the state.
The Presidential and NASS elections were held simultaneously across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory on Saturday.
Journalists, observers among other stakeholders, awaited the commencement of the collation on Sunday.
Collation of results was still at various stages, some at the registration areas, federal constituency, senatorial district and local government collation centres.
Newsmen reports that some security agents were sighted at the centre.