JUST IN: INEC Issues Fresh Statement on Ondo By-Election
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the Ondo South Senatorial District by-election, describing the exercise as largely peaceful despite minor network-related challenges.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Mutiu Agboke, made the assessment on Saturday while monitoring the exercise.
Agboke said most polling units opened on time, with electoral officials arriving early to begin voting.
He noted that some polling units were fully operational as early as 7:43 a.m., reflecting the commission’s preparedness.
“We observed early enthusiasm among voters, and our officials were on the ground promptly. Largely, most polling units opened as scheduled,” he said.
He added that security personnel were adequately deployed across the six local government areas involved in the by-election, with no reported cases of violence or casualties.
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However, the REC acknowledged that network issues affected voter accreditation in some areas, describing the situation as a technical challenge currently being addressed by INEC’s support team.
“It is a general issue from the centre, and our technical team is working to resolve it. What is important is our ability to respond swiftly and professionally,” he stated.
Agboke noted that it was still too early to determine voter turnout, adding that the commission would rely on data from its monitoring dashboard before making a conclusive assessment.
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Also speaking, INEC National Commissioner, Prof. Kunle Ajayi, explained that election results would be transmitted electronically via the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) after votes are counted at polling units.
According to him, results would first be entered on official forms and endorsed by party agents before being uploaded to the IReV portal, after which physical copies would proceed through the established collation chain.
“The results will move from the polling units to the registration area collation centres, then to the local government collation centres, and finally to the senatorial collation centre,” he explained.
Ajayi clarified that IReV only serves as a viewing platform for uploaded result sheets and does not compute final results.
“The final outcome will be determined at the senatorial collation centre where all results are aggregated,” he added.
The by-election is being conducted to fill the vacant Ondo South Senatorial seat following the appointment of former Senator Jimoh Ibrahim as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
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