By Raymond Mordi and Precious Igbonwelundu, Akure

There was impressive voter turnout in parts of Akure, the Ondo State capital on Saturday despite the heavy downpour witnessed in the morning.

As early as 7:20am, voters, including the elderly, were seen at polling units checking their names on pasted lists and waiting for officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to set up for the day’s business.

Our correspondent, who went round some of the polling units at various intervals, observed most of the voters stayed put after voting until the results were announced.

One of the voters, Alakiba Mushi, 78, who spoke to The Nation at unit 21, ward five, said he was satisfied with the peaceful conduct of the exercise.

“This is ward five, unit 21. The voting exercise went smoothly. There was no harassment. I was motivated to vote because I want another good government.

“I voted since 9am and I waited till they counted it. I want the new government to give us new enjoyment, free school, free healthcare and everything good,” he said.

Meanwhile, there was general consensus that the election was largely peaceful and credible save for cases of vote buying recorded across the state.

Our correspondent observed that canvassers for three main political parties engaged in money games as each tried to outsmart the other in voter inducements.

Amount ranging from N2,000 to N7,000 were offered to voters who presented their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for certain details to be copied.

It was also observed that young women were mostly used as canvassers, probably to erase suspicion from nearby security operatives.

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Commenting on the voting exercise, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of security, Leye Oyebade said the voting exercise was largely peaceful across the state.

He said most of the reports of violence on social media were fake news orchestrated by mischief makers for purposes best known to them.

Oyebade said the police deployed cutting edge technology to ensure adequate coverage of the land, water and air, adding that security dominated the entire state to prevent breakdown of law and order.

Oyebade, who also toured the various polling units and INEC Headquarters immediately after voting stopped, said the police and sister security agencies would ensure collation at various levels were seamless.

“We have gone round to see what is happening on ground. The situation is under control. We are now in the critical period which is time for the movement of materials from polling booths to ward, local governments and then to the final state collation center.

“What we have done is to check the condoning to ensure this environment is well secured. You can see the level of security from all angles- north, west, east and south.

“We have secured everywhere. Operatives at the polling units have been collapsed to the wards and local government areas.

“We have dominated the environment with our policemen as usual. From the information I am getting from the creeks and waterways, all is well. We want everyone to abide by the peace accord. This place is well secured and we are going to maintain it till the announcement is made.”

Assessing the process, INEC’s National Commissioner, Prof. Antonia Simbine, said it was impressive and an improvement from Edo Election.

She said the police deserved commendation for ensuring safety of all, adding that she was hopeful the collation exercise would be peaceful.

Simbine said the only area she observed lack of compliance was the COVID-19 protocol, which she noted was a function of the people’s attitude.

According to her, about 75 per cent of the polling units results have been uploaded to the INEC portal, adding that some of the results from the riverine areas may come in around midday on Sunday (today).

Simbine explained that the Z-Pad was only used for uploading results to the portal while the card readers were used for accreditation exercise.