The re-run election into the House of Representatives seat for the Akoko North East/South East federal constituency in Ondo State witnessed a large turnout of voters in the two local government areas where the election is being held.
Voting commenced early in most of the polling units as the exercise began at about 8:30 am while accreditation and voting were going on simultaneously.
At the voting unit of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Ife Ehindero, in unit 2, Oyin/Oge ward 4, accreditation and voting also commenced early, with a large number of voters waiting to be accredited to cast their votes.
While speaking, one of the voters, Adelani Ajose, said the election was going on peacefully in the polling unit and said “You can see the large turnout of voters, this is because voters were adequately sensitised ahead of the rerun election,”
Speaking with newsmen after casting his vote, Ehindero said reports from the field indicated that the election was peaceful with a large turnout of voters.
He said “So far, by my personal assessment, the process has been very calm and peaceful. There hasn’t been any negative report from anywhere and I am hoping that it will continue like this.
We’ve been monitoring all polling units across the 23 wards and 329 polling units in this federal constituency and we’ve not heard any negative report so far.
“Usually, during by-elections, the turnout is always low, compared to the general elections, so, we expected that it wouldn’t be as much as that of the general elections but the turnout is not as high as we expect but from what I’m hearing from other polling units, we are hoping that our people will still come out to vote. We still have enough time since its between 8 am and 2 pm.
He commended the security agencies and the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and said “the security agencies have been of good conduct so far. At my polling unit, security men have been professional and they hasn’t been any report of security breaches across the wards.
“The voting materials arrived on time. the INEC officials arrived on time and I believe same thing has been happening across the polling units. Personally, I feel INEC was well prepared for this election”
Also in Ikare-Akoko, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Lekan Bada, also described the election as peaceful, hailing the security arrangements.
Bada said, “Where I voted in Ward 01, Unit 12 in Ikare-Akoko is very peaceful. I voted around 10:00 a.m., and voting had been going on smoothly. The security arrangement was perfect”
He however, expressed optimism of winning the election, saying the voters from the two local governments will vote for the party, and said “Due to the rotational agreement, it is the turn of Akoko North-East. If it goes to the North-West, it will take 11 years to come back to the North-East. So, I have the advantage”
The Chairman, APC Campaign Council in the constituency, Hon. Muyiwa Asagunla, said that INEC officials had been up and doing, and expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the election and voters’ turnout.
The state chairman of APC, Ade Adetimehin, commended the party members, INEC and security operatives for their conduct during the election, and said the party’s candidate, Ehindero, would win the election landslide.
He said that under his chairmanship, the party had harvested chieftains of the opposition parties and would continue to deplete their camps.
