Ojudu Votes in Ekiti, Raises Alarm Over BVAS Issues

A former aide to the president and member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Babafemi Ojudu, has voted at his polling unit 09 in Ward 08, Ado-Ekiti Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, Mr. Ojudu, who was once a senator, claimed that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines did not capture his details at his polling unit.

The APC member called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address the problem.

“INEC, this is unacceptable. I am the first voter in my polling unit. Nearly 30 minutes after accreditation began, your equipment has still failed to capture my details,” he said about the BVAS machine.

He added, “If the very first voter requires 30 minutes, how many hours will it take to process hundreds of voters waiting patiently to exercise their democratic right? I hope this is an isolated incident and not a statewide malfunction.”

Mr. Ojudu, who supports Governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State, also shared a video of himself speaking to reporters after casting his vote on Saturday.

“The people are orderly, but the process is cumbersome. As I said, the people have come en masse to vote. They are peaceful, they are on queue, as expected, but the process is cumbersome,” he told reporters.

Mr. Ojudu, a former senator and aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, explained what happened.

“Before they could get my vitals, I mean my fingerprint and my photograph, it took almost 30 minutes. And if it takes 30 minutes to capture one person and then make him vote, I do wonder how many hours are going to be required to have 500 people voting.

“So, there is a problem with the system, with the INEC system. The BVAS is malfunctioning. I don’t know what is happening in other polling units, but I am reporting directly from my polling unit. We were here at exactly 8 a.m., and the time now is 8.59 a.m. Only one person has voted, and that’s me,” he said.

He added, “So this is not a good one at all. My call to INEC is to immediately see to it that things are working. If the machines are not working, let them do manual (accreditation).”

Later, he confirmed that he alerted INEC officials about the issue, who fixed it right away.

“This morning, I encountered difficulties at my polling unit. Rather than grumble in private or walk away in frustration, I immediately drew attention to the problem.

“The electoral officials contacted their office, and to their credit, corrective measures were taken without delay. The situation has since improved,” he wrote in the comments.