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Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
In Oyo State, election has not started in some polling units across the state as corps members recruited from National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as ad-hoc staff refused to show up at some polling units.
The affected areas include polling units at Orogun Grammar School, Ibadan, Ajibode behind University of Ibadan, and Aroro-Makinde.
Former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state, Mr. Kunle Ishola, is among the electorate at Orogun Grammar School. He said he got to the polling unit as early as 7:30a.m but the electoral officials did not show up untill around 10a.m.
Head of Voter Education and Publicity of INEC in Oyo State, Mr. Ayodele Folami, in his response to the situation, confirmed that the development came up because some corps members did not show up for the exercise after they collected their stipends on Friday evening.
According to him, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Mr. Mutiu Agboke, was aware of the development, adding that the commission was proactive as it had trained more than enough ad-hoc staff prior to the poll. He said the commission had called on the ad-hoc staff in the reserve to replace those that probably abandoned duty posts.
Folami stated further that extension of time would be granted in areas where voting did not start in time, adding that the time wasted before the commencement of the voting exercise would be added.
But in many parts of the state, reports stated that voting commenced at 8am and there had not been any security breach so far in the places visited in Akingbile, Ojoo, Sango, Dugbe, Ada-Beji, Odo Ona and so on. The people also came out in large numbers to exercise their franchise in many places, while in a few places, the turnout was said to be low at the time of filing this report.
