A gubernatorial candidate under the platform of Action Democratic Party, (ADP), in the 2022 Ekiti gubernatorial election, Erelu Kemi Elebute, and a former Senator in Ekiti State, Duro Faseyi, have expressed their dissatisfaction over the low turnout of voters recorded at some polling units in the state last Saturday.
Erelu Elebute and Duro Faseyi, who spoke at their respective locations in Ekiti state, noted that the situation was likely encouraged by the ripple-effect of naira and fuel scarcity recorded across the nation.
“We have low turnout. You know before, if we are having elections like this, most of our people from outside, from Lagos, from Akure, from Ado, from all over, used to come home to cast their votes here, because most of them registered here. Some of them transferred their voting cards to their hometown. But now, because of the situation, most of them couldn’t turn up- why? Because we are facing a lot of things, scarcity of fuel- that leads to rise in transportation cost. So, from Ado to this place now, which was about N1000 before, is now about N3000 or more now.” Faseyi said
“Well, within my own community, because I’m in my town in Ido-Ekiti, and I just came back from my unit. This gave me the opportunity to go round. Well, it’s going smoothly and peacefully.
“I think that the turnout has been reduced with this naira policy that came up. So, they might not have the large number of people that they usually record in the previous elections that have held in Nigeria. Maybe where they are expecting four million, they might be having three million, because they didn’t come to vote as usual. People didn’t come out to vote as usual,” he added.
Erelu, in her words said: “I will tell you that today’s election is one of the best that I’ve ever witnessed. And it’s going to be recorded in the history of Nigeria that people voted integrity, transparency. It can be considered as one of the most free and fair election that we’ve ever had; looking at the scenario around my wards and polling units – it was peaceful, there was no vote buying. You see this one, come and collect this one. I think that has been reduced with this naira policy that has been introduced.”
Packaged by Emmanuel Adeniran
