Ondo Decides: 1,478,460 PVC Holders Set To Pick Governor
As 1,478,460 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) holders go to the polls Saturday to elect the next governor of Ondo State, fears of the election being marred by monetary inducement of voters and security personnel by politicians and the influx of external factors were rife yesterday.
This was because of the heavy presence of governors and political bigwigs from other states.
Specifically, some All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors were allegedly sighted in the three senatorial districts of the state holding nocturnal meetings with party leaders and some security personnel at different hotels, giving major stakeholders, observers and some members of the electorate great concern.
A group of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), condemned the desperation of the governors for failing to leave Ondo State after the electioneering campaign.
But contrary to speculations that there may be low turnout, TMG Chairperson, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi stressed that the masses were resolute to defy all odds to vote for the candidate and party of their choice.
Like YiagaAfrica, which revealed that 87 per cent of the voters are enthusiastic to vote, TMG pointed out that “Barring any unforeseen circumstance, the election is expected to witness an impressive turnout of voters as higher fraction of voters appraised by TMG local government observers, reveal that they were resolute to exercise their franchise.”
The chairperson added that they will “vote for their preferred candidates notwithstanding the initial political violence witnessed in some areas during campaigns and voters’ inducement by political parties across the 18 local government of the state.”
Akiyode-Afolabi, at a Press Conference in Akure yesterday, however, warned the governors to allow people to vote according to their conscience and stop inducement.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had confirmed that of the 1, 822, 346 registered voters for the election, only 1,478,460 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) were collected across the three senatorial districts.
According to data analysis by Yiaga-Africa, 343, 886 PVCs were uncollected, while Ondo Central District has the highest number of collected and uncollected PVCs, 559,228 and 186,877 respectively.
The report pegs Ondo South District as the second ranking area with 508,044 collected PVCs and 80,877 uncollected PVCs while the North District has 411,188 and 76,122 collected and uncollected PVCs respectively.
Alongside other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Yiaga identified some violence flash points across the districts, revealing a citizen’s perception survey of 53 per cent respondents, who raise concern on violence and intimidation.
 and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors were allegedly sighted in the three){kind=link}