CENTRE LSD INTERIM REPORT OF THE ONDO STATE GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION HELD ON SATURDAY 16TH NOVEMBER 2024.
Preamble
The off-cycle Ondo State Gubernatorial election has rounded up in most polling units as scheduled across the State. The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD) in keeping with its mission of working with forces of positive change to empower citizens to transform society, mobilized and deployed observers to monitor the elections in selected Local Government Areas of the State covering the three Senatorial Zones of the State.
While the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the build up to the Elections assured that all arrangements towards delivering a credible election have been put in place. It particularly indicated that there will be observable improvement in logistics deployments.
Below is the summary of rapid observations as received from our observers.
INEC logistics and the arrival of materials
There was general improved logistic deployment as INEC staff, materials and security officials arrived early at observed Polling Units. By 7:40 am, materials had already arrived at ward 5 Akoko Northwest Ajowa, Polling Unit 007. This facilitated early accreditation and voting started by 8:30am. Also, in Akure South, Election materials and INEC officials with security agents were fully available at Ayedun PU at exactly 6:45 am. Voter’s accreditation started at exactly 8:30am in PU 009,002, 011 and 001. This same early arrival of materials, INEC staff and security officials was reported at Unit 2, Ward 11 Stadium Junction in Akure South LGA as early as 06:15 am. In Akoko Southeast Isua, materials arrived at 7:35 and accreditation started by 8:30am.
Turnout of voters
The turnout of voters was generally low. The apathy was widespread in most places we observed. One of the consequential outcomes of the low turnout was that in some of the polling units, by 2:00pm, voting was already concluded and sorting and counting of votes had commenced
Election Security
The voting exercise was generally very peaceful. The presence of security agents was encouraging. It was observed that various arms of the security services were on ground. These included the Police, DSS, EFCC amongst other. In most of the Polling Units, there were the presence of at two or three (3) officers with good spread of Male and Female officers. Although some polling units experienced rowdiness related to activities of party agents involved in vote canvasing with cash inducement.
Vote buying
Incidence of solicitation for vote buying were witnessed in Akure South LGA, PU 015 where agents of some parties were very visible trying to entice voters with what they called “palliatives”. This trend was also seen in Akungba Ward 13 Unit 7 where DSS officials present waded in to restore order.
The functionality of the BVAS
We did not observe any issues with the functionality of the BVAS machine during the accreditation process. Gbogi/ Isinkan 1 Unit 002 in Akure South LGA was such example where the machine worked smoothly.
Provision for People Living With Disabilities (PLWD)
While INEC had repeatedly assured that it has data of PLWD’s and appropriate provisions would be made for them at the polling units where they will vote. This was not the case in Ilaje LGA Ward 005, PU 002 where there was no Braille Ballot paper or magnifying glass. INEC officials here also failed to present the required form for PLWD’s.
Challenges
The reoccurring challenges in recent times in our electoral process was also in play during the election. They include;
1) Voter apathy: Turnout was poor in the observed polling units.
2) Incidence of Vote buying in some polling units.
Way forward
- All stakeholders involved in the electoral process especially political parties should as a matter of deliberate actions put an end to vote buying to avoid compromising the outcome elections.
- All Stakeholders especially INEC and the political parties should emphasize voter education and mobilization in the runoff to elections. This will galvanize the electorate for better turnout on election day.
Conclusion
While we await the final declaration of results, we note that there was an appreciable improvement in INEC logistics arrangement and deployment. The low voter turnout was a major issue in the whole election process. Centre LSD will issue its final report after a thorough analysis of all the reports from its observers.
Monday Osasah,
Executive Director
