Kehinde Fajobi
Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has called for increased efforts to create national awareness to encourage voter participation in elections across Nigeria.
Speaking on Arise News on Monday, Aiyedatiwa highlighted the gap between voter registration and active political engagement among citizens.
“We need to encourage people to vote, and there is a need for a national awareness to be created for people to always come out to vote,” he said.
“Some of the citizens are passive while some are active. Not everyone that is registered is active, and this is not peculiar to Ondo State. It happens in every election all over the country.”
He noted that many people register for Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) simply to possess the document, without necessarily participating in the voting process.
“A lot of people registered to have their PVC because they just want to have that document, but when it comes to being active politically, not everyone that registered is active politically.
“This has been happening in other elections conducted in other states, not just in Ondo State,” he added.
Addressing allegations of vote-buying during the recent governorship election, Aiyedatiwa dismissed such claims, asserting that the election was free and fair.
“Everybody is entitled to their opinion, depending on where they are speaking from and areas they visited,” he said.
“I want to tell you that not every location was visited by the so-called CSOs and observers.”
He acknowledged initial delays in some areas due to technical issues with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) but said the process eventually normalised.
“The BVAS network slowed down the process in some areas. Eventually, people were able to vote, but in some areas, they made such complaints as well.
“The BVAS was slow, but along the line, it picked up,” Aiyedatiwa explained.
Despite the challenges, the governor emphasised that voter turnout was consistent with previous elections, even showing an increase in participation.
“If you look at the total number of votes of those who voted in the elections, the number is like every other election, and even though we have a higher figure in this very election than some of the elections conducted in the past,” he concluded.