By Chuks Okocha and James Sowole in Akure
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ondo State, Mr. Rufus Akeju, has expressed confidence that the commission is ready and prepared for Saturday’s governorship election, saying that it will be free, fair and transparent.
This comes as Yiaga Africa has released details of elections, saying that majority of the registered voters of 48 per cent are youths in the age range of 18 – 35.
Speaking in an interview with THISDAY in his office in Akure, the state capital, Akeju said: “As we speak, everything required statutorily has been put in place for the registered voters in the state to vote for candidates of their choice on Saturday.
“In addition, adequate security has been put in place by the commission in collaboration with security agencies through the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to secure the voters.
“Ondo State has 3,009 polling units, 203 registration areas in all 18 local government areas of the state, it has 1,822,346 registered voters, while 1,478,460 of PVCs were distributed and 343,886 of PVCs remaining uncollected.
“The implication of the above is that only 1,478,460 voters that have collected their permanent voters’ cards are expected to come to the various voting points to exercise their franchise on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, Yiaga Africa said Ondo State recorded a 10 per cent increase in the number of registered voters between the 2016 governorship election and 2019 election.
According to Yiaga, Ondo Central district has the highest proportion of registered
voters (41%), while Akure South in Ondo Central has the highest proportion of
registered voters (15.9).
Details later…
