Group Tasks INEC on 18,857 Void Votes in Ekiti

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

A group, YVote Naija, has tasked the Ekiti State stakeholders to tackle the twin evils of outrageous void votes and worrisome voter apathy being witnessed in the state.

It revealed that it was disturbing that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) allegedly declared 18,857 as invalid votes in the 2018 governorship poll in the state, which the group said confirmed poor voter education and awareness.

In the election, the state Governor, Kayode Fayemi, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), defeated his main challenger, Prof Kolapo Eleka, of the Peoples Democratic Party, and others.

The Team Lead of the non-governmental organisation, Mr. Habeen Adewale, raised the concern during an advocacy workshop held in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, yesterday.

Adewale posited that the workshop was mooted to sensitise the women, People Living With Disabilities (PWDs) and youths, who constitute over 80 percent of the population to boost their participations in the electioneering process.

He said: “A total of 909,585 voters registered for the 2018 election and only 667,270 collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) representing 73.3 percent.

“But on election day, only 405,861 were accredited for voting out of which only 384,594 were valid while 18,857 were void votes.

“Looking at the apathy trend, about 263,000 citizens with their PVCs actually stayed away from the election. With the level we are now, invalid vote figures is becoming very worrisome as well as threatening electoral system.

“Some voters can’t even recognise the logos of the political parties; they just count themselves as voters for having the PVCs, this is due to the fact that the sensitisation was low. The people must know their candidates to reduce the level of void votes.”

Speaking further on the menace of apathy, Adewale added: “Hunger and poverty are also contributing, and that was why there were recurrent cases of vote buying during elections. Some also had the impression that their votes will never count.

“Let me say this, if your votes don’t count, politicians wouldn’t be buying them. Many inventions had been brought, including the Bio Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), to add to the credibility of our electoral system, and this should spur our citizens to participate in elections.”

Also speaking, the Executive Director of Balm in Gilead Foundation for Sustainable Development, Mr. Nelson Akerele, said swift embankment on community mapping, power mapping and community mobilisation strategies would help in reversing the trend.

He added that the politics determines the destiny of the citizens and controls who would be at the helm of affairs, saying it will be dangerous to abandon such in the hands of mediocre.