CARD READER REJECTS OBASANJO, BANKOLE”S FINGERS, PROBLEM LATER RESOLVED

The former President later casted his votes at about 11.15am and thereafter return to his private residence. He spoke with journalists saying, ‘I went through the process ,they put my PVC in  card reader ,then they have a bit of problems sorting my thumb print and then when they were able to sort it out ,they made me to  go through the process of voting ,they gave me the ballot papers for the Presidential , Senate and the House of Representatives and it was very orderly’

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Penpushing further reports that, he noted two hours delay at the polling booth, stating that the delay can still be accommodated, but expressed satisfaction on what he described as smooth conduct of the process, and also noted that the rejection of his finger by the card reader might be as a result of having used his palm on oily substance at home

‘I am here  to perform my civic right and cast my vote , I believe in my  polling centre, there  was a small delay ,materials arrived late but it is a small delay , by two hours which can be accommodated other than that the process is going smoothly.  Even though, there were many people waiting, either waiting to cast their votes or waiting to welcome me. Because now I vote in my compound where I was born’.

The former President, said he was optimistic that, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will make amends for the shortcomings ahead of next elections, just as he pointed out that winners and losers at the election should always be prepared

‘In any competition ,there will always be winners and losers, anybody in any competition must be    prepared for ,as a good sportsman is that if I win I will show magnanimity if  I lose  I will also bow down graciously that is what any competition is  all about . If your purpose of going to competition is that you must win at all cost, then that is no longer a competition’

The former Speaker House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole   who was also a victim of the card reader, three times had to go manual to cast his vote at his ward 10, unit 6, Egunjo compound, Iporo- Sodeke, Abeokuta South Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Penpushing also reports that, Bankole while speaking with journalists after casting his vote expressed satisfaction on the conduct of the exercise, pointing out that, the exercise in his polling units and information gathered from other places showed it was peaceful.

The Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2,comprising Lagos and Ogun States, Lawal Shehu, while addressing press in Sokori area of Abeokuta metropolis, said, ’so far, so good about the poll, the security agencies have made very remarkable and wonderful arrangement’

‘In the entire polling centre I visited we met tight security. And the people were accredited and voting without hitch, molestation and intimidation. So far, so good, we did not record any incident, so far and did not record any complaint from anywhere. So the situation is very impressive. So no offence committed, no arrest made and nobody call us to report any emergency’, he said

Penpushing further reports that, Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and his wife casted their votes at ward 6, unit 8 Itoko in Abeokuta South Local Government Area, and admitted some delay in the process, but expressed optimism for improvement

‘So far so good, yes I know there is room for improvement in any process, in anything that we do, we actually had some delay, it took some time for the card reader to process our cards, in some instances, the card reader failed, but clearly, I think it’s a process but once we are patient like this, we will overcome’, he told journalists.

‘By and large, we can say the election is going on well, it is peaceful though slow, the process is what I call, I want not say cumbersome but it is truly, truly tasking. You can imagine a Polling Officer writing and signing all the three ballot papers, it is a lot of work that he is doing.  Kudos to all of them’,

 ‘We pray that at the end of the day it will be like this throughout Ogun State and throughout Nigeria because so far so good, it is peaceful except for the issue of the card readers that the people are saying is not working’.

‘You know our elderly ones when they stay for about one hour, two hours, the chances is that they will leave but so far and so good like I said, if I’m going to use where I voted as an example, you can see some elderly people sitting down there, they are having issues with their card readers but they will ensure that everybody vote’.

The Governor also noted that shortage of ballot papers at polling units as major challenges, stating, ‘that is the major crisis that I think we have here. Where I voted, there are about, I think 390 something but we have only 300 ballot papers, I don’t why that is even if they are saying that those that have collected their PVCs the way it is show here, they still need to bring more’.

‘I have been told those are the real challenges. I have asked our people to call the REC, to call the INEC people to draw their attention to this because people after labouring this hard, they shouldn’t be disenfranchised. Everybody must be in a position to exercise their franchise and they wouldn’t be able to do this if they (INEC) don’t have enough ballot papers. We are calling round to let the authorities, particularly INEC know they should please increase the number of ballot papers they put around’.

‘Imagine where we have almost 800 voters and they got 300, 400, so why? I think that they are sorting that out, our people will still be here waiting everywhere and all of them must vote. We have been calling them to see how they will rectify this’.

I’m certainly sure of victory after the voting but I don’t want them to short-change us, to short-change our people. In a place where we have 800 and you have 300, 400 ballot papers for different offices, it is not right, I expect that we should even have probably a little more or the exact numbers of ballot papers but I’m sure that they are working on it. People have been bombarding me with calls of shortage of ballot papers, I’m sure that they are working on it and they will look into it, we still have untill 2 o’clock. I think at the end of the day we will have very credible and fair elections’.