Reports reaching Pulse from Rivers, Oyo, Abia states and a few areas in Lagos are that the accreditation and voting process is going on very smoothly, as against the general malfunction of card readers that characterized the March 28/29 Presidential and National Assembly elections.

Multiple residents of Ibadan confirmed that INEC officials arrived at their posts on time and the accreditation process started swiftly and orderly. We are told there were no long queues in many polling units, given that the card readers worked perfectly.

“I got to my polling unit around 10 am and within 5 minutes I was accredited,” Engineer Kayode Ogungbenro from Ward 10 in Ido Local Government area of Ibadan told Pulse on the telephone. “I was told to come back by 11.30am to vote.”

Ogungbenro however said there is a low turn out of voters around the ancient city.

According to eyewitnesses, same situation is playing out in Abia State. Pulse gathered that electoral officers arrived at some centres around 9 am, particularly Aba/Umuahia areas of the state.

An Aba resident, Jimmy Bankole, told us words around the town are that electoral processes are going on peaceful.

“Some people I have spoken to on the phone are saying accreditation is going on fine in their areas. My landlord who is at a polling unit in Aba South as we speak said INEC staff arrived at the place not quite along and have begun accreditation,” Bankole also spoke to Pulse over the telephone.

In Ipaja, Egbeda, which are under Alimisho local government, and some parts of Ikeja areas of Lagos state, voters commended INEC for fixing the card reader errors, saying the device is hitch-free this time.

However, sporadic shooting has been recorded in some areas in Rivers State.

Pulse gathered that heavy security is stationed at the home of the People’s Democratic Party governorship candidate in the state Nyesom Wike, and some other parts of the state capital, Port Harcourt, to douse the brewing violence.

A Port Harcourt resident, Mr. Remi, told us Eokona and Obio’akpor local government areas of the state are heating up at the moment.

“There is a lot of shooting going on in Eokona, close to Ogoni side now,” Remi said.

As earlier reported, the presidency this morning, ordered the immediate transfer of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Tunde Ogunsakin, out of Rivers state. The AIG was posted to the state on Thursday,  April 9 for election supervision.

It was alleged that the emergency redeployment was ordered because the AIG refused to dance to PDP’s tune in the state and may have sympathy for the state Governor Rotimi Amaechi.