The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Wole Oluyede, has criticised the performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) during Saturday’s governorship election, alleging that technical issues disrupted accreditation and delayed voting at his polling unit.
Oluyede made the remarks shortly after casting his vote at Unit 6, Ward 3, Osagburu Family Hall, Ikere-Ekiti.
According to the PDP candidate, the accreditation process was significantly slowed by the malfunctioning of the BVAS device deployed to the polling unit.
He stated that as of the time he spoke, only six voters had been accredited since voting commenced at about 8:30 a.m.
INEC officials were observed making efforts to resolve the technical issues and restore normal operations at the polling unit.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the situation, Oluyede described the development as unacceptable and called for urgent attention.
“The electoral process is nonsense. A lot of my people are yet to vote because the BVAS is not functioning properly.
“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.
“I am going to make adequate reports of these irregularities to the appropriate authority,” he said.
Oluyede urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to strengthen transparency and improve the efficiency of election management processes.
He warned that persistent technical failures during accreditation could negatively affect public confidence in elections.
The PDP governorship candidate also alleged that some of his supporters were experiencing harassment at different polling units across the state.
“Some of my followers are being harassed at the polling units by security agencies, and no media is reporting the incident,” he alleged.
Despite his concerns, Oluyede stated that he would remain at the polling unit after voting to monitor developments and ensure that his supporters were able to exercise their civic rights.
As of the time of filing this report, INEC had not issued any official response regarding the allegations raised by the PDP candidate.
