More than 24 hours after the presidential and national assembly elections in Lagos State began on Saturday, not a single result from any of the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) has been sent to the State Collation Centre.
At the official opening of the centre for final collation of election results in Lagos State at around 1:00 a.m. on Sunday, Prof. Adenike Oladiji, the State Collation Officer and Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), revealed this.
Oladiji, who characterised the collation as a serious task, stated that as of midnight, the centre was still awaiting results from all 20 LGAs.
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.”
The state’s collation process is in various stages, according to Mr. Olusegun Agbaje, the resident electoral commissioner in Lagos State, who earlier thanked the state’s collation officer in his opening remarks.
Agbaje asserts that Nigerians will ultimately be pleased with INEC’s efforts to ensure that voters can cast ballots despite some minor difficulties.
”We want to assure Nigerians that their votes will count,” the commissioner said.
At INEC Media Centre, the commission’s regional office in Lagos State, is where the state collation centre will be located for the 2023 presidential election.
On Saturday, elections for president and the NASS were held concurrently in all 36 federally recognised states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The start of the collation was anticipated by journalists, observers, and other interested parties on Sunday.
The process of compiling the results was still in various stages, with some taking place in the areas designated for registration, federal districts, senatorial districts, and local government collation centres.
Some security personnel were seen at the centre.
