18th March, 2023
By Rotimi Ijikanmi
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has delivered his Polling Unit to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Saturday’s governorship election in Kwara State.
In the results announced by INEC Returning Officer for the Polling Unit 006 Oro Ward 2, Irepodun Local Government Area, Kwara, the APC scored 174 votes in the governorship election
The main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, came second with 22 votes while the Social Democratic Party polled 16 votes.
Labour Party did not record any vote.
There were 750 registered voters in the ward but 226 voters were accredited.
The minister had voted at the Polling Unit at about 9.45 a.m.
He had told newsmen present at the unit that the 2023 elections was one of the most transparent and credible ever held in the country.
According to him, the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is a game changer in tackling the issues of multiple accreditations, voting and rigging.
“With what I have observed both in the February 25 and today’s elections, there has been a remarkable improvement in the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
“Without any doubt, the introduction of BVAS has been a game changer in the sense that with BVAS, you are able to get the actual number of people who are accredited.
“Also with BVAS, it is now not possible for you to vote twice because your biometric and facial are captured.
“That explained why, though INEC said there were 84 million voters in Nigeria, the last election showed that only about 24 million people cast their votes,’’ he said.
The minister said most of the issues being raised about the credibility of INEC in conducting the polls were red herring.
He admonished some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media to be cautious of what they say and report respectively about the polls.
(NAN)