28th March, 2015
Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan
Presidential and national assembly elections in Oyo State were largely peaceful as people patiently waited to be accredited and to cast their votes.
Although, there were cases and complaints especially with the card readers which forced INEC to resort to manual accreditation, the election was conducted amidst tight security.
As at the time of filing this report, many voters had already performed their civic duties and are patiently awaiting the outcome.
Some of the card readers did not work, some were very slow, while some did not recognize cards or fingerprints, and some even swapped information of voters with the wrong pictures but correct bio data.
Some other complaints included late arrival of the INEC staff in some polling units, or INEC staff allegedly did not even turn up as at 4:30pm, and none arrival of ballot papers after accreditation of eligible voters around 1:00 pm.
There was a complaint that by 3:00 pm, ballot papers had not arrived at Ibadan North East ward 12, ward 14, and many other places. Due to these hitches, accreditation did not start in some polling units including those in Egbeda Local Government in Ibadan up till 3:00 pm.
As at 9:20 am, card readers were not available at many wards at Old Ife Road, Olodo, Apata and several other places. At ward one unit 8 at Oluyole, the card reader provided was alleged not to have worked. At University of Ibadan, (UI), ballot papers were alleged to have arrived at Independence Hall and Awolowo Hall after 3:00 pm.
At Unit 11,ward 6 at Idi-Aro in the Ibadan South-East local government area of the state, for instance, a card reader with number:30/09/06/011 used by a journalist did not work just like it failed with many other voters.
However, election was peacefully conducted in some areas of Ibadan like Akobo, Bodija and Ashi as the polling units monitored in the area did not record any hitch as they started accreditation and voting as scheduled by INEC leading to some of the units declaring their results as at 6:00 pm.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi and his wife, Florence, were accredited for the elections at Unit 20, Ward 11, Ibadan South West Local Government Area.
A veteran politician, Senator Lekan Balogun told journalists at Unit 4,Ile-tuntun/Abese at Lagun area of the state that in as much as he was impressed with the general conduct of the electorates and the peaceful atmosphere that pervaded the state during the election, it would be too early to score the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) high for the exercise.
His words” Let us wait till how the whole exercise has gone, then we can score INEC high or otherwise. But I am impressed with the general conduct of our people, the general peaceful atmosphere. This shows we are gradually getting to that level of political maturity.”
In the same vein, the senatorial candidate for the Oyo Central, Comrade Olu Abiala, lauded electorates for their orderliness, maintaining their large turnout and good conduct during the whole exercise.
Commenting, Governor Ajimobi expressed appreciation to the people of the state for the peaceful and orderly manner they conducted themselves during the elections.
The governor said he was particularly impressed by the large turnout of voters, judging by reports received from the field across the state, saying that this was a further demonstration of their resolve to put in place leaders of their choice.
His words, “I will describe the conduct of the people of Oyo State as being a reflection of our administration’s peaceful and no-violence stance. We are known for peace and we abhor violence. And we have been sustaining and maintaining it. This is what the people have demonstrated today. It is highly commendable.”
Governor Ajimobi also commended the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a brilliant outing which he said was a tremendous improvement on the previous elections in the country adding, “The accreditation was smooth. It took less than one minute for me to be accredited. The same thing for my wife.
“It also took less than two minutes for each of the voters that were accredited before me. No doubt, we hear negligible cases of hiccups but it is part of the experience one must encounter with a novel initiative like the card readers. The lesson we have learnt from this exercise which we must take to the election is that voters should wash their hands clean before going to the polling units to enhance smooth accreditation by the card readers.”
The governor urged the people of the state to demonstrate similar patriotic posturing during the April 11 governorship and House of Assembly elections restating that the electorate should be given the freedom to freely choose their leaders without being coerced or induced.