Edo: Low turnout as by-election holds in Ovia Federal Constituency

The by-election for the Ovia Federal Constituency held on Saturday was marked by low turnout of voters.

It was however peaceful in many parts of the Ovia South-West Local Government Area monitored by our correspondent.

The peaceful nature of the exercise notwithstanding, low turnout and voter apathy were recorded in some of the polling units.

When Tribuneonline visited Siluoko Ward 4 at Gbelebu, only a handful of voters were seen either checking the news from the voters’ register or being accredited to vote.

In Polling Unit 17 of the ward located at Gbelebu Secondary School, the All Progressives Congress (APC) party agent supervisor, Charles Geregha, said that while the turnout was low in the early hours of the exercise, there was hope that turnout would peak later in the day.

According to him, “So far, the election has been peaceful. There is no problem. Though the turnout is low now, we are already mobilising our people to come out and vote.”

His Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Tim Elvis, attributed the low turnout to the fact that many of the voters had gone out for the early morning fishing, and expressed confidence that the situation would improve as the voting exercise progressed.

“The machine here is working well, and there is no molestation of any sort. People are coming out little by little because majority of the people have gone out for the early morning fishing. Before noon, many people will come out,” he assured.

But a vote and one of the Gbelebu Community leaders, Chief Igana Jonathan, said that there was low turnout and voter apathy “because the people are saying that there is nothing the government is doing for them.”

According to him, “There is no dividend of democracy here. To grade our roads is zero. Government has abandoned us and that is why the people don’t see any reason to come out and vote.”

The presiding officer of the unit, Ayomide Olaleye, said that the election had been peaceful, but the Biomods Voters Accreditation System (BVAS), though working, was a bit slow.

“Everything is going on here, but the network fluctuates, and that slows us down a bit. However, nobody has ever voted without being accredited,” he reiterated.

At Unit 12, located at Gbelebu Primary School, the presiding officer, Kareem Abubakar Olamide, also complained about the poor network in the area.

The PDP agent in the unit, David Alfred Power, said that the turnout was low, adding that party leaders across board were talking to the people to come out and exercise their franchise.

The APC agent in the unit, Seifiogwe Egbekun, lamented that the turnout was the worst headache had ever witnessed.

“Turnout is far below expectations as of now. But the election is still early, and we still expect more people to come out before afternoon,” Egbekun assured.

He commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of the election in the area, stressing that the exercise had been peaceful.