The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the winner of Ondo State governorship election.
This announcement was made by INEC’s returning officer, Olayemi Akinyemi, at the Ondo State collation centre in Akure, the state capital, on Sunday.
Mr Akinyemi, who is the Vice Chancellor at the Federal University, Lokoja, announced that the incumbent governor secured 366,781 votes to defeat the former Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 117,845.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the APC candidate also won in each of the 18 local government areas of Ondo State.
The election took place across 3,933 polling units in the 18 local government areas. According to INEC, over 1.7 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were collected, representing 85.6 per cent of the 2.05 million registered voters in the state.
APC’s win
The victory marks Mr Aiyedatiwa’s first governorship win, having assumed office on 27 December 2023, following the death of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, whom he served under as deputy governor.
Mr Ajayi of the PDP was Mr Aiyedatiwa’s predecessor as deputy governor under Mr Akeredolu but a rift between the duo led to his replacement with Mr Aiyedatiwa in 2020.
Mr Aiyedatiwa on Saturday expressed confidence that he is at an advantage to win the election shortly after casting his vote at Polling Unit 005 Ward 04 in Obenla Community.
The governor said that he would win the election because of his performance in the last 10 months.
“I am at an advantage to win because of the work I have done in the last 10 months. I was the only candidate that covered the entire state. I felt the people, I listened to them and the people were excited at my appearance. I believe they will translate the love to vote today,” Mr Aiyedatiwa said.
Both candidates won in their polling units with Mr Aiyedatiwa winning his with 128 votes, while Mr Ajayi secured only three votes there. However, Ajayi rebounded in his own unit, winning with 194 votes, whereas Mr Aiyedatiwa garnered just three votes.
PDP’s concerns
Mr Ajayi had earlier accused INEC of bias in his polling unit, adding that there were delays in voting in some parts of the state.
He said it took him 10 minutes to cast his vote, which he believes was deliberately orchestrated to frustrate the electorate.
Mr Ajayi also alleged cases of vote buying across the state and malfunctioning BVAS machines.
“The system has been compromised. It is sad. INEC can’t conduct elections well in one state; just one state,” Mr Ajayi said
Vote buying, other issues
Incidents of voter inducement were reported in some areas despite heavy security measures.
On Saturday, operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) arrested a suspected vote buyer during the election at Ward 4, Polling Unit 007, outside St Stephen’s Primary School in Akure, the state capital,
The unidentified suspect was arrested with two bags of money which are believed to be for the inducement of voters in the election.
There were also isolated cases of violence. The supervising national commissioner of INEC for the election, Kunle Ajayi, confirmed that violent clashes erupted in the Idanre area of the state.
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“We had some violent cases in Idanre,” Mr Ajayi, a professor, said during an interview on Channels TV, adding that with “two forces in the same town, ordinarily you would expect some tension.”
“Automatically the town will be divided, some supporting the APC chairman, some supporting the PDP governorship candidate,” he added.
The APC eventually won in Idanre.
