“Disappointed”: INEC Reacts as BVAS Fail to Capture Elderly Voters in Ondo Guber Poll

• In the ongoing Ondo state’s governorship election, several elderly voters faced challenges as the BVAS malfunction, failed to capture their facial biometrics, delaying their ability to vote and some lamented that they have still not voted
• Miss Angela Oshogwe, the presiding officer at Polling Unit 19, Olamojuba, confirmed that the BVAS issue was not isolated and had been reported to the relevant authorities for further action
• Reacting, INEC assured the voters that the issue will be addressed even as results from some polling units trickled in

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Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) experienced a major challenge in the Ondo state governorship election held on Saturday, November 16, 2024.

Ondo guber: Elderly voters lament, unable to vote

A septuagenarian, Mrs Agnes Olapade, who was affected by the technical problem, said that she was disappointed that she could not vote due to malfunction of the BVAS.

Olapade said she had been at the polling unit, with other affected elderly voters, since 8:00 am. without being able to vote.

INEC responds to complaint

Miss Angela Oshogwe, the presiding officer at the ongoing election, said that the bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine could not capture the faces of some elderly voters.

Oshogwe, who is in charge of Poling Unit 19, Ward 11 Olamojuba, Ondo, in the Ondo West local government area of the state, said that she had lodged the complaints with the concerned authorities.

Reacting to the complaint, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the chief press secretary to INEC chairman, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the commission was aware of the development in “very limited” polling units.

“We are aware that in very limited cases, a few elderly voters couldn’t be accredited by the BVAS at first attempt. But, in subsequent attempts, the problem was resolved.

“A Presiding Officer in one polling unit (PU) out of 3,933 PUs in Ondo State is not in the position to say how widespread a technical problem is.

“From the reports at our disposal, so far, the BVAS is performing satisfactorily. It is not unusual for technical issues to occur in a major off-season election like the one we are conducting today.

“We anticipated it and made adequate arrangements to respond to any type of challenge,” Oyekanmi said.

Read more about Ondo election here:

• Ondo deputy governor Adelami wins polling unit for APC, result emerges
• Mimiko loses his cool as he warns against manipulation of Ondo gov election
• Ondo guber poll: EFCC operatives storm polling units

Ondo guber: INEC uploads 20.42% of results to IREV portal

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that INEC had started uploading the Ondo state governorship election results on its IREV portal from the polling units.

As of the time of writing this report, INEC has uploaded about 25 per cent of the ongoing election results on the IREV portal.

The Ondo state governorship election results can be checked from the "Election Results" section on the INEC website.