But for the quick action of Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Barr. Austin Eni Okojie, today’s presidential and National Assembly elections in the state would have failed woefully.

As frustration mounted across the state, Okojie directed INEC staff on election duty at various polling units where the cards reader devise had failed to function to use the manual voters register to accredit voters “so that no eligible voter is disenfranchised.”

Barr. Okojie, who gave the directive while monitoring the exercise in some local government areas in the state, disclosed that he contacted and obtained the “go ahead to use the manual voters register” from the INEC Chairman, Prof. Atahiru Jega, in Abuja, after complaints from various voting units across the state.

Some of the areas where the card reader failure was experienced include Abak, Nsit Ubium, Ukanafun, Uyo, Esit Eket and Uruan local government areas.

In Nsit Ubium, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Engr. Nkereuwem Ekanem, described the exercise as “very interesting” and “expectedly orderly”, adding that “even the physically challenged in the area came out en-masse and exercise their franchise with open display of enthusiasm.”

The SSG, however observed that “some of the INEC officials did not have the idea of using the incident report forms, provided for the Commission’s officials” in case of malfunction of the card reader device.

News Express reports that voting commenced in earnest in many polling units in the state around 2pm, including in Essien Udim, where Gov. Godswill Akpabio and wife, Ekaette, got accredited at about 11am.