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From Omoniyi Salaudeen, Osun State
The Osun State governorship election recorded large turnouts and largely peaceful voting across Irewole, Ayedade, Ede South and Olohunda Local Government Areas on Saturday, with voters conducting themselves orderly despite isolated challenges.
In Irewole Local Government Area, voting proceeded peacefully despite earlier apprehension about possible violence.
Election materials arrived early at polling units visited by Sunday Sun, while voters queued for accreditation and cast their ballots without major incidents.
At 9:45 am at Ward 9, Unit 3, AUD Primary School, Ikire, there was a large turnout, with voting proceeding peacefully and orderly while voters confirmed that election materials arrived on time.
A similar situation was observed at Ward 9, Unit 11, Gantry Open Space, Ikire, where voters queued for accreditation before casting their ballots.
An 80-year-old woman who spoke with Sunday Sun described the process as “smooth, peaceful and orderly.”
The APC governorship candidate, Oyebamiji, who cast his ballot at Ward 9, Unit 011, Ikire, expressed confidence that he would win the election.
“I am confident that I will win this election at the end of the day.”
He commended the turnout, saying it demonstrated that voters were not intimidated.
“INEC officials are here, the voters are here, security operatives are here. I want to commend the large turnout of voters in Ikire. It shows that the people are not intimidated, and generally, things are going on well across the state.”
Oyebamiji, however, urged security agencies to remain proactive.
“I want to admonish the police and other security operatives to be proactive to ensure security for our people and all the voters. I believe the election will be credible,” he said.
In Ayedade Local Government Area, there was also a large turnout and peaceful conduct of voters.
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At Ward 5, Unit 16, Ago Igbira Oke, Odeomu, a police officer said INEC ad-hoc staff arrived at about 7:30 am, and voting commenced at exactly 8 am.
According to the officer, voters queued orderly and took turns to cast their ballots, while there was no reported case of BVAS malfunction.
He said ad-hoc staff resorted to power banks whenever the batteries of the machines ran down.
At Ward 5, Unit 15, Oronna, Odeomu, however, a voter, Olodo Mofutau Olatunji, complained that he was prevented from voting despite his name appearing on the voters’ list because he could not present his voter card.
Olatunji said he had applied for replacement of his voter card but did not receive it before election day.
Despite the complaint, voting continued peacefully at the polling unit.
At Polling Unit 018, Olufi High School, Odeomu, there was also a large turnout, with voters conducting themselves peacefully.
In Ede South Local Government Area, voting was similarly peaceful at Ward 4, Unit 11, Ajuewe, where voting commenced at about 8:30 am without incident.
There was, however, an unusually long queue at Ward 4, Unit 10, where about 190 registered voters had only one functioning BVAS machine available.
Despite the delay, voters remained orderly, maintained their positions in the queue and waited for their turns to vote.
At Ajewole, Ward 8, Unit 9, Olohunda Local Government Area, voters were still casting their ballots as of 1:46 pm without any reported hitch.
One of the voters, Oyetade Moshood, described the process as smooth and orderly.
Across the polling units visited in the areas, there were no reports of violence, while no case of alleged vote-buying had been recorded as of the time of filing the report.
