Residents of Ondo State have begun to cast their votes in the governorship election on Saturday, November 26, 2016.
The Trent correspondents in the southwestern state report that voting commenced early in the morning without major incidents.
However there are reports of widespread breakdown on the card readers used for accreditation. Our findings reveal that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, deployed faulty card readers for the on-going governorship poll.
Voters complain that the card readers “refuse to function” and this trend is causing some agitation among voters. An eye-witness voter who spoke with one of our reporters, on condition of anonymity, said that the high incidents of faulty devices is a “deliberate attempt by INEC to circumvent the electronic process in order to have reasons for using the incidence forms in order to easily manipulate the process and present an already written result in favour of the APC”.
Mr. Dayo Akintemi, a voter who spoke with our correspondent at Polling Unit 028, Ward 3, Akure South, also insinuated that the functional card readers is a ploy to rig the poll in favour of the national ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.
“We know this has been their plans all along. That’s why they brought in IDP cash in billions through Fayemi and others to influence the process, but we will not allow it,” Akintemi said.
Reacting to the incidents of malfunctioning card readers, Segun Agbaje, the INEC resident electoral commissioner, REC, in Ondo State says that the electoral body has more than 250 spare smart card readers to replace the faulty ones.
Agbaje said this on Saturday while speaking with members of the press at Unit 9, Ward 2, Gbogi/Isinkan in Akure South Local Government Area of the state on the sidelines of the accreditation and voting process for the governorship election.
“Card reader is not a major challenge because it can be addressed within 10 to 20 minutes; we have over 250 smart card readers for exchange in case of malfunction.
“I believe more people are still coming and the election is going on smoothly across the state,’’ he said.
He further said that the challenge faced by those whose names were not on the list but have PVCs would be addressed by the ICT Department soon.
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