25th February, 2023
Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, was not impressed with the turnout of voters during the early stage of the voting process on Saturday.
The governor spoke after he cast his vote in ward 5, unit 6, Ijebu Owo, his hometown.
The Governor arrived at his polling unit at exactly 10:47am amidst cheers from voters at the unit.
He experienced technical hiccups with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) which lasted for about eight minutes.
Governor Akeredolu was accredited at exactly 10:55am and immediately cast his vote.
Speaking with journalists shortly after exercising his franchise, the Governor said he was not too impressed with the turn out of voters. He however expressed hope that more voters will come out before voting ends.
His words: “Probably, this initial hiccup applied to me only because several people have passed through this and they didn’t have much problem.
“And I believe that it was caused by the surging crowd, you know they had to clear the crowd, and at a point, they felt it was because I am wearing white, whichever one, the important thing is that at the end of the day, the BVAS machine captured me. That’s all. So, when there is some delay, we should expect it but I have cast my vote.
“Well, I am not too impressed yet with the turnout but I expect that many people will come out. But we need to be larger than this, I have always voted here. But I know that people are going to come out. We are more and it’s too early in the day now, since they know you come and vote and go. So everybody will come out at their own convenient time. Many people will still come and vote.
“But for me, INEC has displayed their Independence, I don’t see anything they are doing now. At least, at this polling booth, I don’t know what is happening in other places but they have been cautious. Those who are there, they are been cautious and I believe that is their Independence. For now, I don’t know what is happening in other places.”