Some residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) thronged in their numbers to their polling units to cast their votes in the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who visited some of the polling units in Garki, ABUJA, reports that as at 6 a.m some of the units already had over 200 voters on the queue.
Some of the voters told NAN that they arrived at the units as early as 3 a.m to beat the queue.
At the Area 1 primary school polling Unit, Mr Ahmed Bako said that he arrived the unit as early as 5 a.m only to meet over 100 persons already on the queue.
“I left my house in Mararaba as early as 4 a.m so I can get here on time, but I was surprised to see that there were already many people on the queue,” Bako said.
A NAN correspondent who arrived the polling centre at 6 a.m reports that there were two separate lists: one had 121 names on it while the other had 97 names.
The situation was not so different at the polling units in Area 2 where the residents came out in droves to wait for the officials.
At the Area 2 Recreational Park, the intending voters were also seen in their numbers with the list already above 100 names.
Mr Solomon Namabri who resides very close to the polling unit told NAN that he started noticing people at the unit as early as 3 a.m.
“I was monitoring the polling unit all night; I started seeing people coming as early as 3 a.m I had to come down at 4 a.m to write my name on the list when I noticed that the crowd was building up.
“In fact, I noticed that from yesterday evening people were already sitting arpund in all the polling units in this Area 2,” he said.
At the National Library Unit, it was not so different. However the list was written according to gender: men had one list while the women had their own list.
At the Area 11 polling unit near a health facility, the voters were seen coordinating themselves as they queued up orderly to take their names.
The unit has 167 names on it.
It was a similar situation also at the Area 10 Post Office Unit as well as the polling units at Area 7, 8, 3 and Apo Legislative Quarters as well as Durumi.
At most of the polling units visited, Policemen as well as operatives of the Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) were seen monitoring the units at a safe distance.
At least five security operatives were seen in each polling unit visited. (NAN)
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