Ondo REC explains delay in election results, urges electorate to be patient

ONDO State Resident Electoral Commissioner REC, Olusegun Agbaje, has attributed the delay in the release of election results in the state to large turnout of voters.

He explained that the delay was also informed by the need to ensure that the collation is properly done by INEC officials to prevent any conflict among party agents.

Speaking during a press briefing in Akure yesterday, the REC said that he could not say when the collation of the results would end.

“Most of the results are coming from far places. I cannot say when the results will be ready. Delay is not only in Ondo, it is happening in other states from the reports we are getting,” Agbaje said.

He also regretted the malfunctioning of the card readers, which according to him was due to the poor handling of the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) by the Corps members, who did not understand how to operate the machines.

But in spite of hitches, he said that the election was 65% successful in the state.

“Nigerians generally are happy about the use of card readers and the processes. Most of the polling units did not have issues with the card readers”, he said

He also regretted the snatching of ballot boxes in the riverine areas of the state, saying he was not expecting such an ugly incident to happen during this election.

Agbaje assured the electorates that nobody would manipulate election process, as everything would be done legitimately.

One of the All Progressive Congress (APC) collation agents in the state, Mr. Bode Sumonu described the election as successful, saying that INEC performed above average.

“They have done very well. I have no doubt that the results would be credit-worthy,” he said.

According to him, “INEC recorded a high success in reading the cards but the problem was confirming the biometric details of the voters.
The reason being that, the electorates were not well educated on the new innovation

“Some of them did not clean their hands properly before going for accreditation, so the machine could not read their finger prints”.

He, however, said that INEC created an alternative window for manual accreditation where the machine failed.

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of Social Democratic Party (SDP),
Olu Falae said that the problem with the election has to do with the malfunctioning of the card readers even in his ward, Ward 5 Unit 1,
Ago-Ireti, Akure North local council

He told The Guardian that he could not be accredited due to the failure of the machine, stating that it is not INEC that failed but
the technology behind the card readers which ought to have been tested in a local election.

“Let us wait and see the outcome of the election. If the failure is massive, INEC will know what to do,” urging the electorates to desist
from any sort of post election violence which might result from the failure of the election if not well managed.

“The fact that we disagree does not mean that we should not be friends. Nationwide, the election should be free of violence,” Falae said.

While the Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Isaac Eke described the election as peaceful as his men were deployed early enough to cover all the polling units in the 18 local government areas of the state.

He said that his men did not have any security challenge and the electorates did not have any problem except in the area of card
readers.

“I appeal to the electorates to be patient with the issue of the card readers and let their be a peaceful election,” Eke said.