Nigeria’s electoral commission on Saturday expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the Ondo South Senatorial District by-election, saying the exercise had remained peaceful despite network-related challenges.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INE) said most polling units opened on schedule, with election officials arriving early to begin accreditation and voting.
Speaking to journalists in Okitipupa while monitoring the exercise, Ondo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Mutiu Agboke said some polling units were fully operational before 8 a.m., reflecting the commission’s preparedness.
Agboke said voters showed enthusiasm to participate in the election, the REC stated that security personnel were adequately deployed across the six local government areas involved in the poll. He added that no security incidents or casualties had been reported.
The commissioner, however, acknowledged reports of network difficulties affecting voter accreditation in some locations, describing them as technical challenges being addressed by INEC’s support team.
He said the commission was responding professionally to the situation and working to resolve any issues as they emerged.
Agboke said it was too early to determine voter turnout, adding that INEC would rely on data from its monitoring systems before making an assessment.
Meanwhile, INEC National Commissioner Kunle Ajayi said results from polling units would be uploaded electronically through the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) after votes are counted.
Ajayi said result sheets would first be completed and signed by party agents before being uploaded and physically moved through the various stages of collation.
He clarified that IReV only displays uploaded result sheets and does not automatically calculate election outcomes. According to Ajayi, the final result will be determined at the senatorial collation centre after all scores from the polling units have been collated.
The by-election is being held 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.