Fayemi canvasses one-day election, e-voting

Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi going through accreditation process at his ward 11 Ogilolo Polling unit, Isan Ekiti…yesterday

• Agbaje, Obasa Fault Electoral Process, Canvass Alternatives
Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has said he looked forward to a time Nigeria would be able to conduct elections in one day, and possibly through electronic voting.

Speaking shortly after casting his vote at his country home in Isan Ekiti, the governor said the current election schedule, where elections into elective positions are conducted separately “is not a good use of time and effort”.

Fayemi expressed optimism that the country would take advantage of technological advancement and switch to electronic voting to enhance seamless voting process that will enable electorates exercise their voting right, while going about their normal daily work.

The governor, however, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for quickly addressing some hiccups that could have marred the smooth conduct of the 2019 general elections.

“Voting on different days is not a good use of time. The time we commit to this effort, the man-working hour is just too much. So, we hope technology will improve, we hope to get to the point of electronic voting and where everything can be smooth and fast and we can combine work with voting”, he said.

The governor, who voted at 11:28am said the election went reasonably well and peaceful, though turnout was lower than during the presidential election.

Similarly, the governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, and Speaker of State Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, have faulted the current electoral process and called for immediate redress.

Specifically, Agbaje bemoaned the situation, where in many places, the card readers malfunctioned, which resulted in disenfranchisement of voters.

While casting his vote at his Polling Unit, Ward A, Unit 004 Apapa, yesterday, he lamented that it took several attempts before the card reader could identify his fingerprints.

“We are having situation in some polling units, where the card reader is not working they said people cannot vote. What I’m saying is that there has to be uniform process, where when the card reader is not working, manual vote should be allowed.”

On his part, Obasa, while casting his vote at Ward 5, Polling Unit 19, Agege, decried the high cost of electoral processes, stressing that such funds could be diverted to other areas to better the people’s lots.

He said: “The process is expensive and the result does not commensurate with the cost. We should look inward and get something that will be totally acceptable to all. This will reduce cost. Adopting what we see elsewhere will not be very helpful to us. I think we should return to what we did in the past, the MKO way. The process was cheaper and clearer.”

(Nigerian Guardian News )