A 73 year-old man, Pa Samuel Olabode Olaitan, was on Saturday denied the opportunity to cast his vote in Igbeti, Olorunsogo Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The senior citizen, who first arrived the polling unit at Ward 5, Unit 2, Igbeti, was glad to find his name on the Voters Register published by INEC but could not scale through the accreditation stage.
Although his name and details came up on the BVAS machine upon entering the six digits on his PVC, the machine could not authenticate his details when effort was made to take his pictures.
Attempt to use the other two screening methods, including fingerprint scanning also proved abortive.
Lamenting the situation, the senior citizen said he had repeatedly gone to the polling unit more than five times in five hours with the hope of exercising his franchise.
In a chat with Voice of Nigeria, Pa Olaitan expressed disappointment that he could not cast his vote.
He said he had consistently cast his vote at the same polling unit for many years, since 1999 and that it is the first time he would ever be denied the chance of voting, especially since.
Pa Olaitan narrated: “I want to vote. I want to exercise my right. I have been here for more than five times. I came here first around 9AM. My name was pasted on the voters register and I have my PVC with me.
“My name also showed on the machine when they entered my PVC number on it but, when they tried to take my pictures for verification, it is not coming up.
“I was told to go back home and came back again around 11AM. The story was the same. After waiting for some time, they asked me to go home and come back.
“In all, this is the fifth time I have been coming here and it is the same thing. I feel disappointed that I can’t vote because even when they said I should use my fingerprint, it was the same thing. I will still wait until the process closes because I really want to cast my vote. I want to vote,” he lamented.
Reacting, the State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources. Abiodun Oni, who was at the polling unit to cast his vote said it was painful that such an old man with such enthusiasm and zeal would be technically disenfranchised.
Although he commended INEC for the BVAS, saying the introduction made the election easy, he said more needs to be done to ensure that voters’ interest is not discouraged.
Oni stated: “The process is ongoing well. It has been peaceful and calm and we commend our people for the show. It is obvious that our people are interested in voting and we must be careful in discouraging their interest.
“This election is by far an improvement on the previous ones and we are sure that the introduction of BVAS will make people’s vote count and manipulation will not be possible,” the Commissioner noted.
Oni asserted that there had, so far, not been any report of violence or crisis in any part of the town, expressing the hope that the people would sustain the peaceful conduct.
