Those who spoke to Journalists at different polling centres are the state Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, former governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka (GNI).
Amosun, who spoke to the Journalists at his Ajura ward in Obafemi Owode Local Government said, ” If you take it from the stand-point of view that this is the first time we are bringing this new technology (Card readers) into what we are doing, then we must agree that whatever lapses that might occured are pardonable.
Amosun stated, ” We are still not yet there because you will notice that I was in the queue for a long time and it is because either the card reader is slow or is not working.
He stressed “But for me if this will make the election credible and everybody would see that it has been demonstrated clearly that it is fair, free and transparent, I think everybody will want to endure.”
The governor lamented, ” We were told that the programme will start 8:am while some people got here 4 am, some 5am but most of them were disenfrashised because they could not get their PVCs from INEC.
Isiaka, who spoke at his Unit 6 polling centre, Baptist Primary School, Imeko, expressed concern over the shoddy preparation of the INEC. He was particularly dissatisfied with the failure of the card readers in some polling units that forced the INEC staffs to employ manual accreditation in some polling units.
He noted that he had initially raised his concerns about the effectiveness of the card readers which later proved him and other Nigerians right.
Isiaka, who thanked the electorate for standing for many hours under the scorching sun to perform their civic responsibilities said, “The reports we are getting about the turnout of our people is encouraging and our people here in Imeko have been orderly and we expect free and fair election here, but we have reports from some polling units of card readers not working which forced them to resort to manual accreditation. Some electorate were electronically accredited and some got accredited manually. This is not tidy enough”.
He, however, urged the INEC to perfect all the anomalies before the governorship election. Daniel, however expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the polls so far, praising the electorate and INEC for their conduct.The PDP stalwart also advised INEC to resolve the challenges witnessed at the polls,, saying such do not re-occur in subsequent elections so that the electorate are not disenfranchised.
Meanwhile, Ogun-East Senatorial candidate for the APC, Mr Dapo Abiodun commended the turnout of voters. Abiodun however, urged INEC to resolve complains about the card reader especially for subsequent elections so as not to disenfranchise voters.He praised the peaceful conduct of the election across the state.
