The people of Ondo State will this morning troop out, amid tension, to elect a governor that will manage the state in the next four years.
Seventeen (17) political parties are fielding candidates for today’s election, but the contest will be a straight fight between incumbent Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Eyitayo Jegede of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Agboola Ajayi of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
For most of yesterday, tension remained very high across the state, with voters bitterly divided between the three leading candidates.
Fear of violence is palpable, but the police and other security agencies have assured voters of maximum security.
Indeed, every nook and cranny of the state is heavily policed.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered restriction of vehicular movement in the state from 11:59 p.m yesterday to 6.00 p.m today to curb the movement of illicit arms, hard drugs, and political thugs.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Rufus Akeju, said, “Everything required statutorily has been put in place for the registered voters in the state to vote for the candidate of their choice today.”
According to him, the delimitation data of the State are as follow, number of registered voters, 1,822,346, number of PVCs distributed 1,478,460, number of PVCs remaining uncollected 343,886.
Akeju noted that implication of the above was that only 1,478,460 voters that collected the permanent voter cards are expected to come to the various voting points to exercise their franchise today (Saturday).
Also, the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, promised that all eligible voters would have equal opportunity to exercise their right to vote appealing to all political parties, candidates and their supporters for peaceful conduct.
The political atmosphere in the state was tensed yesterday as supporters of the main political parties are in a last minutes of wooing electorates to their different camps.
