March 11, (THEWILL) – The gubernatorial candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Ogun State, Biyi Otegbeye, has reacted to the postponement of the governorship and state House of Assembly elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to March 18.
Otegbeye said the postponement was legitimate because it would allow the electoral body to reformat its Bimodal Voter Authentication System (BVAS) for a better election.
He spoke at his residence in Abeokuta on Friday, while answering questions from journalists on whether the postponement affected him, of which he said no, adding that it would only afford him the opportunity to take his campaign train to the remaining 46 wards out of the 236 wards in the state
To him, the postponement of the elections by INEC was not convenient but was done to avoid errors from the BVAS and ensure Nigerians have free, fair and credible conduct of the governorship and state House of Assembly polls on March 18.
He said, “For me, INEC did not just do this overnight, this was a fallout of the court case about reformating the BIVAS in readiness for the election. And INEC said they have 167,000 or 197,000 BIVAS and it will take them time to reformat the BVAS and that makes a lot of sense. What can you do about that?
“So, the reason for the postponement is legitimate and to an extent, that is what they want to achieve. When you have a legitimate thing for good you just have to abide by it and respect it. Is it convenient, of course, you will need to work more, you will need to spend more, of course, those inconveniences are there,” he noted
The governorship candidate, who said that he would campaign till the last day that INEC permits, said that he was in the race to save the people from the hardship of the All Progressive Party (APC) led government of Dapo Abiodun, insisting he was confident of victory.
He said Abiodun, over the three and half years of his administration, failed to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people while appealing to the electorates to vote for him and other candidates of the party in the forthcoming elections in order to have a new Ogun State.
“Yes! I am in this election to win it and thankfully, the people of Ogun State are united on one thing, that the present administration has not benefited them. We have visited 190 out of the 236 wards and with this extension, I still intend to cover them, so I have sold our agenda to them and I believe the people will receive our agenda,” he added.
