Accreditation and voting began around local governments in Kaduna Saturday morning as citizens went to the polls to elect leaders for local councils.

Most polling units in Kaduna North and Kaduna South Local Government Areas opened at 9:30 a.m., as against the official time of 8:00 a.m. NAN reports.

The delay, correspondents of the state-owned newswire said, was due to late arrival of Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission officials to Polling Units visited.

Out of the 22 Polling Units visited in Barnawa, Kakuri, Television, Kabala and some other areas, security agents were spotted in only two units, of which election officials were not present.

At Ungwan Muazu area of Kaduna South, there was slight apprehension over the change of voting unit, but the situation was brought under control.

Efforts to secure comments of KADSIECOM officials on the development were futile as they were busy attending to election matters.

However, in Igabi Local Government Area, the situation was different as election materials arrived at about 7:30 a.m. in most Polling Units, with security personnel manning the Units.

Voters interviewed in Rigasa area of Igabi Local Government Area, commended the State Electoral Commission for a job well done.

Sagir Umar, the Supervisory Presiding Officer, Rigasa Centre, with 26 Polling Units, said all election materials were dispatched to the units around 7:30 a.m.

He expressed satisfaction with the presence of security personnel in all the voting units.

Reports from other areas indicated that the exercise was peaceful, but there were incidents of failure of Voting Machines.

The election is taking place in 19 out of the 23 Local Government Area (LGAs) of the state, with the exercise in Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Zangon Kataf and Kujuru LGAs shifted to September 25, for security reasons.

(NAN)