Voters aparthy, peaceful conduct of electorate, early arrival of Independent National Electoral Commission INEC materials and officials characterized the 2023 governorship and state house of Assembly elections in Kwara State.
Despite the early arrival of INEC officials and materials, there was low turnout of voters at some of the polling units visited for the governorship and House of Assembly elections in Kwara State.
Our Correspondent gathered that the exercise, which witnessed peaceful conduct of electorate, also saw security operators manning major roads and streets in the state capital to ensure compliance with election guidelines.
The elections started early in such areas as Ilorin West, Ilorin East, Ilorin South, Irepodun and Asa local government areas of the state, an improvement on the presidential election when late arrival of materials and personnel characterized commencement of the polls.
Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were also seen in some areas to monitor conduct of the elections.
At polling unit 010, Badi, Agbeyangi ward, Ilorin, only 2 voters had voted out of the 395 registered voters for the exercise.
Also at Polling unit 004, Oke-Ose, out of the over 800 registered voters, only, 56 had voted when our Correspondent arrived around past 10:00am.
INEC presiding officer, Sulyman AbdulRazaq said the number is picking gradually.
At polling unit 008, Iponrin, Ilorin East Local Government Area, only 78 people had voted out of the 540 registered voters.
The commissioner for Tertiary Education, Abdulafeez Abolore, described the process as peaceful and commended INEC for the improvement.
On the issue of voter’s aparthy, the commisssioner who said they have not experience such in his ward, added he will laise with other party members to find out the situation in other places.
Also Commissioner of Work and transportation Engr Rotimi Iliasu who also spoke with newsmen after casting his vote at Olooru ward polling unit 005 Moro local government expressed delight at the peaceful state of the election
He attributed the low turn out of voters to Scarcity of Cash, the victory of APC in Presidential elections and others
He expressed optimism that the party would emerged victoriously in the governship and state house of Assembly elections
Also, Prof Alli Ahmed, former speaker, Kwara State House Of Assembly, has blamed the observed low turn out of voters on Saturday in Ilorin on the poor conduct of the last presidential election on February 25.
Ahmed, the director general, People’s Democratic Party, PDP, governorship campaign council, said that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s conduct of the presidential elections came with an altogether different outcomes from what voters expected.
Ahmad spoke at his Gbabi Amidun unit at Opo Mali, IlorinEast after casting his vote on Saturday for the governorship and House Assembly election said
“People are disillusioned and disappointed,” he said.
“INEC was given unprecedented funding, had more than three years to prepare, assured Nigerians of the strict adherance to rules only for him to break those same rules.
“Under normal circumstances Prof Yakubu Mahmood shouldn’t be conducting this elections.
“He should have resigned.
“But this is Nigeria, a nation where there are no consequences for bad conduct,” Prof Ahmad added.
Also prof. Ibrahim Gambari, the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the ongoing Governorship and House of Assembly polls in Kwara.
Gambari spoke to journalists in Ilorin shortly after casting his vote in Kwara at the Polling Unit 005 Akanbi Ward 4
”I feel very happy that the election exercise is peaceful and calm and I urge voters to conduct themselves in peaceful manner in line with Mr. President’s legacies and mandates.
”I also advise winners and loosers to play by the rules of the game.
”Loosers should explore peaceful and legal means to pursue their interest and shun all forms of violence.
”This is the only way our democracy can develop and be sustained,” Prof. Gambari said.
Speaking further on the Supreme Court judgement on the redesigned and old naira notes, the CoS expressed confidence that the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and his team will make more cash available in the country in order to reduce the sufferings bitting hard on Nigerians.
Also Deputy Governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara state. Hon Gbenga Makanjuola said that he suspected a foul play over complaints of repeated brake down of Bimodal Voters Accreditation (BVAS) in Saturday’s governorship and state assembly elections in some parts of the state.
Makanjuola also decried low turn out of voters which he said might not be unconnected with” abnormalities” recorded during the February 25 presidential elections in the state .
The former member of the house of representatives who cast his ballot in his Oke- Aja polling units (008), decried the non- functioning of BVAS in some polling units belived to be strong hold of the oppositions in Omu-Aran .
“The turnout is low, may be because of complicity in the last elections on the aspect of the umpire where voters are being deprived in their votes from being counted and may be some People believe they have gotten what they wanted .
“Voting has not commenced in some polling units in ST. Paul (units10 and 12), from the report I am getting, INEC officials complained that BVAS is breaking down, I am suspecting that something is going on may be because that is the areas they believe opposition have their votes. Why cant they replace it (BVAS) with another one, they have their RACs centres here”, he said.
He urged INEC to ensure that it correct the abnormalities recorded during the February 26 election by ensuring votes counted are being immediately uploaded”
Also speaking to journalists at his polling unit 008, former military administrator of Bauchi and Osun states, Col Theophilus Bamigboye expressed concerns about voter aparthy recorded in the elections saying “the turn out is low, but I don’t know why”
He however expressed delight wth the peaceful conduct of the elections and manner at which voters conducted themselves”
Also, The Senator representing kwara central at the National Assembly, Senator Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe has described the conduct of 2023 elections as one of the best in the history of democracy in Nigeria.
Oloriegbe explained that, He was one of those that advocate for the usage of electronics for the transmission of results at the National Assembly and to consider the peculiarity of different areas and communities to enhance the credibility of the elections .
He noted that the last presidential elections shows that Nigerians really elected the candidate of their choice , stressing that the president- elect did not win in his state, the incumbent president Muhammad Buhari could also not deliver his state to the party indicating that people choose who they want to rule them.
According to him,”It has become tradition that whosoever want to be the Nigerian president should win states like Kano, Lagos, Katsina and Kaduna among others but the current situations proves otherwise,”
He remarked that the Tenth National Assembly would be unique and vibrant because Eight political parties would be representing Nigerians in both the House of representatives and the Senate.
On the conduct of the National independent Electoral Commission,(INEC) oloriegbe remarked that if you closely obsessed the results of the presidential elections you will appreciate the gaps and margins which shows the clear winner of the elections.
Also, The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party(SDP) Hakeem Lawal has blamed the low voters turnout of the gubernatorial elections to transportation issues and security.
Lawal who cast his vote, at exactly 9:50am at unit 003, Magaji Aare Ward 1, Ilorin, Ilorin east LG, said this while speaking with newsmen after exercising his civic right.
“As you can see there is voter apathy, people have not come out enough, I don’t know why, possibly transport issues, may be delay in the process, the only thing I observed while coming is that security outfits blocked a lot of routes, this affects people’s movement.
“It is indirectly disenfranchising them, people should be able to move, to go and vote.
“We all have our voter cards, so you can tell from my card where I’m going to vote, so you should be able to allow me to move.
“The BVAS is another issue, we may not be able to tell if it worked effectively or not until we see how it goes today”, he said.
Lawal said that it was too early to determine the conduct of the governorship elections as voting was still ongoing.
Also, Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed described the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections as one of the most transparent and.credible elections Nigeria has ever had.
He added the introduction of Bimodar Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) has been a changer in the electoral process in the country.
Alhaji Mohammed said this in Oro, Irepodun local government area of the state shortly after casting his vote at Oro Ward 2 polling unit 006 in the ongoing governorship and House of Assembly elections.
The elections, it was observed, was characterised by low turnout in the community.
But, the minister, attributed the seeming low turnout to the change polling unit venue.
He said “It is too early to judge the turnout now at 9:45am. I think the change of venue perhaps, has contributed for the seeming low turnout. I hope that the party agents will continue to mobilise the electorates and enlighten them of the new change of venue of the polling units.
“What I have observed from February 25 till date is that there has been marked improvement in the performance of INEC.
On BVAS, Mohammed said that “without any doubt the introduction of BVAS has been a game-changer. In the sense that with BVAS we are able to get the exact number of people who are accredited and with BVAS it is not possible for you to vote twice. Because your biometrics and facial appearance are captured.
“That explains why even though, INEC says that about 84 million registered voters are in Nigeria, but the last election showed that only about 24 million voters actually cast their votes. That is largely because of the effectiveness of BVAS.
“This is to me is probably one of the most transparent and credible elections in Nigeria. That is why I get worried about the red-erring by some people I can call sad losers in the aftermath of the presidential and National Assembly elections.
“I am glad to say that some of the aggrieved parties have gone to court. That is the best thing in any election in the world. Let the court interpret what the law says.”
Also, SDP candidate for Oke -Ogun state constituency ,Oyun local government ,Kwara state ,Comrade John Adegboye has described as untrue media reports claiming that the party’ s candidates for the ongoing Governorship and house of assembly elections have withdrawn from the race to endorse candidates of other political parties.
He told newsmen after casting his ballot at PU 002 Oja Oba , Igosun that he has not backed out of the race ,ditto other candidates of the party.
“I was surprised to hear such a rumour, some were claiming that we have withdrawn from the race it is quite surprising but it is part of politics you engage in manipulation in order to gain advantage but as it is I don’t know of any SDP candidate that has backed out of the race from the gubernatorial candidate to the House of Assembly candidates we are good to go. We are not in anyway discouraged because of what happened in the last elections we believe that Tinubu’s factor worked in favour of many unqualified candidates and I say this without apology to anyone. Everybody here is for Tinubu’ and this influence made them to win but this election is a different ball game and we are coming into this contest fired up knowing full well that mistakes were made in the first one and avoided. All the 24 house of assembly candidates of our party are in the race’ he said
Meanwhile, the Former Young Progressives Party(YPP) candidate, Waziri Yakubu-Gobir has commended the smooth conduct of the gubernatorial and State Assembly elctions in the Kwara.
Gobir disclosed this in Ilorin on Saturday while speaking with newsmen after he exercised his voting rights at polling unit 001 Ode Waziri.
According to him, the election conduct was smooth and peaceful with out any form of ugly occurrence.
” The conduct has improved alot compare to the presidential election. The signs are encouraging. We hope INEC will build on this,” he said.
He also expressed worry over the low turn out of the voters as compared to the presidential election.
Gobir also attributed the low turn out to INEC inability to make use of the technology made available work perfectly in the presidential election held on Febuary 25.
“People may get discourage with INEC inability to stick to their promise on transmitting result directly from the polling unit which they failed to do.
” Electorates expect more from INEC which did not happen. So most electorates may decide to remain indoor,” he said .
He however urged the public to come out and exercise their voting rights.
It would be recalled that the YPP gubernatorial candidate on Thursday March 16, stepped down for APC governorship candidate ,Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazak.
Also, Director General, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) Prof. Abubakar Suleiman, said that there is voter aparthy due to low turn out of voters, adding that he was not impressed.
Suleiman who made the statement while speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, on Saturday, during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections noted that there was low turn out of voters and was not impressed about the development.
“There is voters aparthy I am not impressed. If democracy is indeed about the mass majority of the people, what we are seeing today is not encouraging.
“Poor turnout of voters, I don’t see any improvement with that of last election.
“Ordinarily, today’s election should be more participatory and the turnout should be more impressive, because the election is state affair and it is the closest to the people.
“The closest is the local government and where there is no local government election, gubernatorial and state assembly election should be the closest on comparative basis to what obtained during the last election.
Suleiman, also the former Minister, National Planning said that he was expecting people to come out and determine who govern them at the state level, also determine law makers at the state level.
He said that with the poor turnout, it is unimpressive and with the situation, the tendency for power to manipulate was very high.
“If we have this kind of turn out here, at this point, you can imagine what will happen at the collation centre.
“Especially when there are no people to observe and carry out their responsibility, then you allow room for lots of manipulation here and there, “ he said.
The director general queried the attitude of INEC, saying that they are doing much of paper work than physical work on ground, adding that it was not encouraging and stimulating enough.
“They promised on several occasions that their members of staff and officers will get to their various polling unit in good time, but again, the same thing happened as in the last election.
“We expected progression, improvement and development in order to move forward, but unfortunately we are moving backward in our democracy status.
“At our level as an agency under national assembly, we expect people that are indeed the choice of the people as political office holder and not those that are reflections of the minority wishes.
“That is not democracy. If anything happens thereafter, in terms of bad governance, you don’t blame anybody,” he said.
Also, former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki has expressed concern over the low turn out of voters on the governorship elections.
Saraki who spoke with newsmen in Ilorin on Saturday commended the people of Kwara for conducting themselves peacefully for the elections.
He, however tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) on credibility in order to have the confidence of Nigerians.
“The process is going on peacefully, but clearly we can all see that the turn out is low, people are still a little bit disappointed at the last elections as INEC has disenfranchised a lot of people.
“We make an appeal to people to come out and vote, it is still early in the day to make an assessment of the whole process.
“We hope this time around INEC would have learnt from what happened the last time and what it has done to the image of our country.
“We hope when the results are out, they will uploaded as promised and transmitted”, he said.
Speaking on the BVAS technology, the former senate president said “I do not think there is anything wrong with the technology, we cannot rule out that it was made intentionally not to work out the last election.
“If it works today, we have to ask questions on why it worked and it did not work on the Feb. 25 elections and you can see it has done to the confidence of Nigerians”, he said.
Saraki added that there would be credible elections in Nigeria if electoral laws were strictly adhered to.
“We tried passing the law in 2019, which unfortunately did not pass, because people felt the law will not allow the kind of rigging that we have now.
“If the law is strictly adhered to, elections will be very credible except the system ensures the law does not work like it happened in the last presidential elections.
“The law has given sanctions, nobody has been sanctioned for contradicting the law as long as officials think they can get away with it, it will continue.
“I think what we should do is to obey and follow the law. We have gone a long way from where we were before but as country, we believe we can do better.
“We look back and see how peacefully we are having elections now, it never used to be like this; we are progressing but we should progress more than this” Saraki said.
Also, Kwara state Deputy Governor Kayode Alabi who also spoke with newsmen after casting his vote at about 11am at ECWA Primary School, Oro-Ago, poling unit 001, confident of victory for his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) commended the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for their early arrival for commencement of voting and the electorate for their peaceful conduct.
He said: “I have just cast my vote and I am confident of landslide victory for my party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). I commend the early arrival of INEC officials to kick start the voting process. In particular, I laud the electorate for their peaceful conduct. As you can see, the election was going on in a peaceful atmosphere.”
Meanwhile, Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq after casting his ballot at 12:45pm at his Idigba Polling Unit 004 of Adewole Ward in Ilorin West, commending the peaceful conduct of the exercise
The Governor also urged more voters to come out to exercise their franchise, following reports of low turnouts in some areas.
His polling unit and many areas of Adewole Ward however recorded large turnouts.
“It’s been a mixed bag in terms of the turnout — appreciably large in some places and quite low in some areas — and we urge more people to come out,” he told reporters after voting alongside his wife Ambassador Olufolake AbdulRazaq and other members of his family.
“Going by the turnout in this polling unit, this is impressive. But nationwide, including in parts of Kwara State, the turnout is a bit lower than the presidential and national assembly elections,” he said.
“On the BVAS, the reports so far show that there are improvement, compared to the last elections.”
The Governor also commended the early arrival of polling officers, and is upbeat of being re-elected by Kwarans on the back of his performance in various sectors of the state.
