A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress,(APC), Prof. Adio Afolayan, has described the seamless operation of the BIMODAL Accreditation System for the conduct of the ongoing governorship election in Ekiti by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), as excellent.
Afolayan, who is also the Commissioner for Local Government Affairs in the State, made the commendation yesterday in an interview with newsmen at Efon-Alaaye, after casting his votes.
INEC is adopting BIMODAL Accreditation System, in which accreditation and voting were done simultaneously in yesterday’s governorship election.
According to Afolayan, it took less than five minutes for a voter to accredit and vote simultaneously.
He also lauded the peaceful conduct of the electorate, saying that people conducted themselves peacefully without any bickering.
However, some voters in Ifaki-Ekiti, raised an alarm that the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS) machines were not functioning well in many areas of the town. They consequently called on INEC to intervene so that they do not miss out on electing candidates of their choice in the exercise, which they said would officially close at about 2.30 p.m.
At Omi-Oniyo voting unit, in Ifaki-Ekiti, the hometown of Segun Oni, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), out of the over 500 voters registered in the area, only two persons had been able to vote, as of about 9.30 a.m.
An elderly woman, who spoke on the development on condition of anonymity, said she had been on queue since about 7.09 a.m, but has yet to be accredited, not to talk of voting.
The same scenario was playing out in some polling units in Ado-Ekiti, the State capital.
Meanwhile, the Coordinator, Women and Youths Pathfinders Initiative, Abuja, Fidelix Nweke, lauded the peaceful conduct of the electorate in Efon-Alaaye during yesterday’s governorship election.
Nweke told newsmen in Efon-Alaaye that there has not been any report of violence in areas visited by the group.
He also lauded the massive turnout of voters for the exercise. He called on the people to ensure that the peaceful atmosphere being witnessed now was maintained.
The group coordinator said that before any election could be adjudged free, fair and credible, it must be peaceful.
