2023 Governorship Election: Turnout Massive But Military Stopping People From Coming To Vote In Cross River, Ayade Cries Out

Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade, has cried out that the military is making it difficult for people to come and vote at the ongoing governorship elections holding nationwide.

The governor however noted that the turnout of voters has been “massive.”

28 states are voting to elect new governors or renew mandates of the incumbents after two weeks of the presidential election.

Ayade who voted at polling unit 004, Kakum-Obudu, at exactly 11:12 decried the role of the military saying it’s denying people the opportunity to exercise their franchise.

Although he said the exercise has been relatively peaceful, he expressed the hope that people would still turn out to vote in the exercise.

Speaking to THE WHISTLER after casting his ballot, the governor said, “This is just about 12 minutes after 11 o’clock, I have just cast my votes and voing started here about 8:30, which is a major departure from the last exercise.

“This is early voting.

“This is also to mentioned that the turn out is very massive.

“This is one of the biggest polling units at Nfom ward, cross River State here.

“I am happy that it’s going on peacefully.

“We just have the challenges of the military which is making it difficult for people to access here.

“Hopefully we would be able to have a large turn out since we started quite early,” the governor said.

The governor lost his senatorial bid to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Jarigbe Agom, two weeks ago, in an election he said was militarised which led to his defeat.