Large turnout as Yobe holds councils poll three years after

Three years after, Yobe State has successfully held its local councils’ election following the checkmating of Boko Haram insurgents in the state and the restoration of peace.

There was a large turnout of voters in across the state to elect chairmen and councilors for 17 council areas. The councils’ poll had to be put on hold since 2016 because of the deadly attacks by the terrorist group.

The weekend election recorded no security breach as voters filed out to exercise their franchise in large numbers.

The residents did not express fear of gunmen or suicide attacks, which was indicative of the improved security state.

Besides, the accreditation and the conduct by the Yobe State Independent Electoral Commission (YOSIEC) at various polling units in Potiskum and Damaturu, as observed by The Guardian, encouraged more voters to turn out and cast their votes to elect their leaders at the grassroots.

Accreditation and voting was hitch-free and there was large turn as attested to by Mai Adamu, the Presiding Officer at the Mairi Area Court polling unit in Damaturu. He said election materials and personnel arrived on scheduled without hiccups

Speaking on the exercise, the state’s deputy governor, Abubakar Aliyu said that the large turnout of voters was because of the return of peace to the state.

He said three years after the last council elections, the government was able to conduct a successful councils poll without any violence or uprising in any liberated community.

His words: “I’m here today in my Yindiski polling unit of Potiskum to cast my vote for my chairman and councilor. The ongoing election is very peaceful. There is no rowdiness and everyone is exercising his or her own choice to elect leaders at council level.”

He said that Yobe is the only state that was able to organize council election successfully more than once or twice.

“We thanked God for the peace we are enjoying and thank our Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam for giving us all the support and resources to carry out this exercise,” said Aliyu, after casting his vote in Potiskum.

He said that throughout his travel from Damaturu, the state capital to Potiskum, a distance of 100 kilometres, there was no case of uprising or someone trying to disturb the peace in the state.

Aliyu said: “Voting in the state is organized in a systematic way, whereby all the materials have been delivered; while voters are accredited and cast their votes simultaneously. This is to prevent crowding and waste of time at the various polling booths.”

On the inability of Gaidam to cast his vote, the deputy governor explained that the governor is yet to return from the lesser hajj in Saudi Arabia.