Cross River State
governor, Prof Ben Ayade, has expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the
Saturday Presidential and National Assembly elections, describing the exercise
and turnout as both peaceful and massive.
Ayade, accompanied by his wife Lynda, arrived Kakum Town
Hall, Ipong polling unit, Obudu with registration area code CR/09 at about
11:05am where they were accredited and later exercised their franchise.
Speaking shortly after casting his vote, Ayade said: “I
am here in my own polling unit and I am happy that we have a very peaceful and
massive turnout here in my ward and indeed my polling unit,” adding:
“I am also very happy with the conduct, certification and quality of
training that the INEC officials and ad hoc staff have received.”
The governor noted that “the process is good and I think
that the fact that we are highly registered in this unit and they decided to
give us additional voting points has made it a lot easier as a lot of people
have already voted as of this moment, so it is clear that by 2. pm, everybody
should have voted and the turnout is impressive and peaceful and I hear this is
the same situation across Cross River State.”
On areas of improvement ahead of the remaining elections,
Ayade intimated: “I guess it is about the technology. The inability of the
card reader to actually identify my finger prints calls for worry. This is Ben
Ayade, this is my face, the governor of Cross River State with my card in my
polling unit. That it could not authenticate my finger prints shows clearly
that if there is no alternative other than the card reader, a lot of people
will be disenfranchised.”
Continuing, the governor maintained that “there is a
challenge and I think it is a function of the temperature which affects the
reliability of ICT base of this nature, so it is expected that as Nigeria
progresses in our democracy, it should adopt a technology that will reflect our
peculiar climate and the nature of our people.”
He added further that “our finger prints vary with our
nature, kind of occupation and what we do because all of these come together
but I believe there is a great room for improvement as well as the choice of
the technology and technical support that can allow us bypass the technology
that fails.”
On whether the earlier postponement of the elections has in
any way affected yesterday’s exercise, Ayade remarked that “the
postponement could not have made a difference in any way as the enthusiasm is
high, the social media has actually expanded the understanding of the people as
every person of voting age is excited and wants to exercise his or her
franchise.”
On her part, wife of the governor, Dr Lynda Ayade enthused:
“I am impressed as well as the crowd in this polling unit is a testimony
that people really want to exercise their franchise peacefully.”
She added that “except the challenge of the card reader
in some occasions, you can see that the people are happy, I expect the best and
hope that my party, the PDP wins.”