March 18, (THEWILL) – Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ogun State, Niyi Ijalaye, has said that the quick arrival of Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and other electoral materials to polling booths in the state was commendable.
Ijalaye, who arrived at the polling unit 14, Ward 1 of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo in Ikenne Local Government Area of the State, around 9:59 am to monitor the election process, said that the BVAS machine performed very well.
He said that from what he gathered very early in the morning after visiting five Local Government Areas including Ado-Odo/Ota, Ifo, Ewokoro, Obafemi Owode, the election materials came on time, while the BVAS performed accurately.
The REC also added that apart from the quick arrival of electoral materials, presiding officers of INEC were at their desks as early as 8 am waiting for the electorate in the state to come and cast their votes for the Governorship and State House of Assembly Elections.
He said that voter turnout early in the morning was very impressive, noting that by 8:30 to 9 am, people were already at their polling units in some parts of the state to exercise their franchise, just as he also commended the security operatives for a job well done.
Ijalaye said, “The situation has been very great. We go round most Local government in the state since morning. I have been to Ota, IFO, Ewekoro, Abeokuta South and Obafemi Owode Local Government. Initially, this morning.
“I inspected the Registration Area Centre (RACs) and I realise that men and materials are being moved to the polling units and as I was moving on and on I realise that voting has commence and i was stopping to see the performance of our BIVAS and other materials and the response have been very commendable.
“the challenges is a totally different scenario, as we speak most of our presiding officers have been on their desks at 8:am in the morning awaiting voters to come in.
“The security situation have been so commendable because the police and other security team has been so corporative and deploy their men to various polling unit and the peace in the state is equally commendable.”
On voter turnout, he said, “Initially I notice few people were coming out as I was coming from Ado-Odo/Ota, because that was very early in the morning but as I progressed further I realised that by 8:30 – 9:00am a lot of people were many in their polling units voting.Ogun REC, Ijalaye
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