Dr Kayode Fayemi, the governor of Ekiti State has hailed voters turn out in Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections, saying the postponement of the elections from last Saturday has not affected the turn out of the electorate in the State as the people trooped out en masse to exercise their franchise.
Speaking in Isan Ekiti after voting at Ogilolo unit 09, the governor also said that he was not aware of any incident of vote-buying in any part of the State; adding that reports he got showed that the election was without violence in virtually all parts of the State.
Dr Fayemi, however, noted that there were a few reports of card reader malfunction in a number of areas but added that INEC officials rose to the occasion.
He added that in his polling unit at Isan Ekiti, the card reader did not malfunction as the process has been relatively smooth.
“In my polling unit, everything has been relatively smooth, the card reader worked perfectly. The process was smooth. The officials were disciplined and the voters were orderly in their conduct. The report I received from across the state so far, at least one can say that things are okay. There have been a few repots of card reader not working in a number of points across the state. I believe INEC is trying to correct those incidents of card reader malfunction but by and large, things are smooth so far.
“Of course we are not at the end of the process yet and it will be too hasty to give 100% pass mark to the electoral management body. But for us here in Isan Ekiti where I voted, things are going relatively smoothly, he said.
Speaking on last weeks postponement of the election, Fayemi said the postponement did not discourage voters in Ekiti State as the electorate thronged the various polling units across the State.
He urged Nigerians not to hastily discredit INEC’s efforts but encourage the electoral commission to improve on its efforts in order to enable the nations democratic experience progress.
“Last week we were very disappointed when the process could not go as expected but I believe INEC should have learnt its lessons and done relatively well in its conduct but we all have a duty to strengthen our institutions and we must support our institutions to be strengthened. We must be very careful not to dismiss at every opportunity efforts that are made available by the institution responsible for this process. I think what happened last week was something that most Nigerians were unhappy about but if it enables INEC to address their own shortcomings and improve on the system to ensure that the votes of our people count, we would have cause to give INEC pass mark and give democracy a positive progress in our country, Fayemi said.
The governor and his wife, Erelu Bisi Fayemi who had arrived at the polling unit at 11:17am and queued up to be accredited before voting were honoured by the voters who unanimously asked them to leave the queue and cast their votes. They voted at 11:25am.
Packaged by Emmanuel Adeniran
