Ondo Gubernatorial Election Update: PDP’s Agboola Ajayi Takes the Lead
As the Ondo State governorship election commences, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Agboola Ajayi, has reportedly taken the lead in his polling unit. According to earlier reports, Ajayi voted at his polling unit, 4 Idumado Quarter Kiribo in Ese-Odo Local Government Area.
Results emerging from the polling unit indicate that Ajayi secured a substantial 194 votes, surpassing his closest opponent, Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who received just three votes.
Meanwhile, challenges have been reported in several polling units, where elderly voters have been facing difficulties due to issues with the Bio modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). A Presiding Officer, Miss Angela Oshogwe, has complained that the machine was having trouble recognizing the faces of some elderly voters at Polling Unit 19 in Ward 11 Olamojuba, Ondo.
Oshogwe stated that she had brought the issue to the attention of the relevant authorities, who were working to resolve the problem. She emphasized that this issue was not isolated to her polling unit, as many elderly individuals were waiting for extended periods to cast their votes.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has since responded to the situation. Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, assured the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the commission was aware of the problem and was working to address it.
Oyekanmi explained that in a few “limited cases,” elderly voters encountered issues with the BVAS at first, but these were subsequently resolved. He highlighted that a single polling officer’s account was not representative of the overall situation, and that reports suggested the BVAS was generally functioning satisfactorily. The commission had anticipated such technical issues and had taken steps to respond to them.
