A former member of the House of Representatives from Jos North/Bassa constituency, Suleiman Kwande, has lamented low turnout of voters in Saturday’s Local Government election in the state.
Kwande,who stated this while casting his vote at the Hill Station polling unit, however, described the election as peaceful.
He urged the citizens to always come out and vote during elections to enable them to elect leaders of their choice.
He also urged the people to remain peaceful during and after the polls.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the election was characterised by voter apathy in most parts of Jos North Local Government Area as most people stayed away from the polling units.
In some polling units in Hill Station Junction, Farin Gada, Jenta Adamu, Apata, Tudun Wada and Hwolshe, few or no voters were seen,as at the time our correspondent visited the areas.
Some of the voter registers had recorded one vote cast, others had 3 while some did not record any vote at all,as at the time of the visit.
Similarly, there was poor turnout in some units such as Busabuji, Laranto, St Murumba and a host of others.
Miss Helen Amos, a resident of Hill Station, blamed the poor turnout on the alleged non inclusion of other political parties in the election.
“I don’t see why people would go out to vote when it is only one party that is participating and clearly almost everyone has rejected the candidates.
“We feel disenfranchised by the non inclusion of the party of our choice, this is not the kind of democracy we want,” Amos said.
NAN,however, reports that there was turnout of voters in some parts of Kwararafa, Konan Soja, Sabon Layi and other areas.
Mrs Grace Vandapuye, a councilorship candidate in Jos North, expressed joy that the election was taking place for the first time in the area.
Vandapuye urged elected leaders in the area to ensure that they served the people diligently and with fear of God. (NAN)