Hours to the much awaited general elections, which kick off tomorrow with the presidential election,the ever busy streets of Abuja,the Federal Capital Territory have been deserted.
Housing News can authoritatively report that many residents of the city,registered to vote in their states’ of origin or in some cases,cities where they resided before relocating to Abuja.And in order to perform their civic right, and ensure that their votes count,most of the residents had to travel to the where they will be eligible to vote.
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A check around the city revealed that major roads,like the Ahmadu Bello Way, Ademola Adetokunbo crescent,Aminu Kano Crescent and Muhammadu Buhari way, which usually records high volumes of traffic were all scanty, with only a few cars and pedestrians.
Apart from the Federal Capital Territory,in Ibadan,the Oyo state capital, business activities are low today in most areas due to the public holiday in preparation for tomorrow’presidential and National Assembly elections.
Banks,schools and other public institutions are closed but residents were seen queued up to collect money at the ATMs.
Traffic is also very light in these areas, which used to be characterized by holdups and bumber to bumber movement of vehicles.
UI,challenge, Dugbe,Ring Road and sango are some of the areas visited.
In Ebonyi State,Governor, David Umahi has declared today, a public holiday to enable citizens travel to places they registered for the elections and vote.
Umahi made the declaration while addressing newsmen in Abakaliki, noting that the directive was in conformity with the powers vested on him as the state governor.
He said that the decision was to prevent such citizens from traveling on Saturday because of transportation challenge that might be experienced on election day.
“Some people might have problems accessing transport to their various destinations while some vehicles conveying them might break down on the way.
“It is then better for them to travel on Friday to have the latitude of going back to their locations and perform their civic responsibilities,” he said.
Tomorrow, February 16, about 73 candidates would jostle for just one political position of the president in the 36 states of the country.
Unarguably, the battle is clearly defined between two major front-runners, specifically between the President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC,) and the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The unprecedented number of contestants notwithstanding, practically speaking, the incumbent, President Buhari and his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar, stand out in the pack of the 73 presidential candidates as those to watch out for. This is on account of their visibility all over the country, the national spread and entrenched structure of their political parties, among other factors.
Source: Affa Acho
