The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ekiti State, Dr Wole Oluyede, has criticised the performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), saying technical glitches delayed his accreditation during Saturday’s voting exercise.
Oluyede, who voted at Unit 6, Ward 3, Osagburu Family Hall, said the BVAS device deployed at his polling unit was malfunctioning, resulting in a slow and disrupted accreditation process.
According to reports, voting commenced at about 8:30 a.m., but only six voters had been accredited several hours into the process due to the faulty machine.
Electoral officials were reportedly seen making efforts to resolve the technical issues in order to restore normal voting operations.
Reacting to the situation, the PDP candidate expressed strong dissatisfaction with the conduct of the election, describing the process as unacceptable.
“The electoral process is nonsense. A lot of my people are yet to vote because the BVAS is not functioning properly,” he said.
He added that the recurring nature of such challenges at his polling unit was troubling, noting that similar technical failures had been experienced in previous elections.
“I am not happy with the current electoral process; this is not the first time that the machine is being faulty at my polling unit,” he said. “I am going to make adequate reports of these irregularities to the appropriate authority.”
Oluyede urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure greater transparency and efficiency in the electoral process, particularly in the deployment and functioning of election technologies.
He also raised concerns over alleged intimidation of his supporters at various polling units, describing the situation as undemocratic and unacceptable.
“Some of my followers are being harassed at the polling units by security agencies and no media is reporting the incident,” he said.
Despite the challenges he highlighted, the PDP candidate confirmed that he had successfully cast his vote, adding that he would remain at the polling area to ensure that his supporters were also able to participate in the election.
