The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo State, South West Nigeria, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has been declared winner of the election.
Aiyedatiwa scored a total of 366, 781 votes to defeat his closest rival, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Agboola Ajayi, who scored a total of 117, 845 votes.
The Chief Returning Officer of the election and Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Lokoja, Professor Olayemi Akinwunmi, while declaring the results said Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa having fulfilled the requirements of the law is hereby declared winner of the election and hereby returned as the governor elect of the state.
He urged any aggrieved party or parties to follow due process according to the dictate of the electoral act.
Profesdor Akinwunmi said “Aiyedatiwa polled a total of 366,781 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ajayi Agboola who scored a total votes of 117,845 while ZLP’s Dr Abbas Mimiko, younger brother of the former governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko came a distant third with 2,692 votes.
“The total valid votes was 497,077, rejected votes, 11,886 while total votes cast was 508,963.”
Result Breakdown
The results declared by the INEC shows that in Akoko North East, APC garnered 25,657 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, who scored 5,072 votes.
In Idanre LGA, the APC also won with 9,114 votes against the PDP’s 8,940 votes, while in Ifedore LGA, the APC defeated the PDP, scoring 14, 157 against PDP’s 5,897 votes.
In Akoko South West, the APC also won with 29,700 votes, while the PDP got 5,517 votes, while in Akoko North West, the APC recorded a landslide victory with 25,010 votes against the PDP’s 5,502 votes.
The APC also won in Akoko South East, with 12,140 votes while the PDP got 2,692, while the ruling party also defeated the PDP in Ile Oluji/Okeigbo LGA with 16,600 votes against PDP’s 4,442.
In Owo LGA, the APC got 31,914 votes to defeat the PDP, which scored 4,740 votes, while the APC also won in Ondo East with 8,163 votes while the PDP scored 2,843 votes.
The results also showed that the APC won in Ondo West, with 20,755 votes against PDP’s 6,387 votes while in Irele, APC scored 17,117 votes to win the PDP, which had 6,601 votes.
APC also won in Akure South with 32,969 votes, while the PDP got 17,926 votes. In Ose LGA, the APC recorded a landslide victory with 16,555 votes against PDP’s 4,472 votes.
The results for Okitipupa LGA showed that APC polled 26,811 votes while scored 10,233 votes and in Akure North LGA, APC scored 14,451 votes but PDP only garnered 5,787 votes .
In Odigbo LGA, APC scored 26,683 votes while PDP polled 9,348.
In Ilaje LGA, APC garnered 24,474 votes while PDP scored 3,632 votes.
APC also defeated Agboola Ajayi of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP in his local government, Ese-Odo with 14,511 votes while PDP polled 7,814 votes.
With the declaration, Aiyedatiwa will occupy Alagbaka Government House for four years after the expiration of the current dispensation on February 25, 2025.
Allegations of irregularities
The PDP candidate, Agboola Ajayi accused INEC and the security agencies of compromising the outcome of the election.
The PDP candidate who voted at Unit 4, Ward 2 Idumado in Kiribo, Ese-Odo LGA had expressed displeasure at the conduct of the election.
He said that it took more than 10 minutes for the INEC BVAS to capture him, saying, “the system is not perfect and there are lots of complaints here and there. If INEC cannot successfully organise an election in just one state, then you must know that we are running into anarchy.
He added, “I think it is deliberate on the part of INEC, on the part of the Resident Electoral Commission (REC). And we have said several times that we don’t trust Oluwatoyin Babalola (REC). That this woman cannot be fair. The system is compromised and we have a series of calls made by everybody. People are complaining about vote buying, the BVAS problem. It is a very shameful exercise,” he said.
However, Mr Ade Adogun, a party agent representing the All Progressives Congress APC at the election debunked the allegations of irregularities saying that his party the All Progressives Congress APC worked hard to convince the electorate through the party’s commitment and ability to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of Ondo state.
“We worked hard during campaign and we were able to convince the people to vote for us. This is what the opposition parties could not do” he asserts.
Some party agents, including the agent representing the Peoples Democratic Party PDP also expressed displeasure over the conduct of the election, alleging that voting did not take place in some polling units in the State.
The Returning Officer, while responding to the allegations urged the aggrieved party agents to formalise their grievances to enable the Commission investigate their claims and take appropriate action” he advised.
Recall that Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa emerged Governor of the state following the death of the former Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu in December, 2023.
Both Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mr. Agboola Ajayi, served as Deputy Governors at different times under late Akeredolu.
Aiyedatiwa’s victory will enable him serve out his second term in office
INEC’s Satisfaction
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Ondo state, Mrs Oluwatoyin Babalola has expressed satisfaction over the peaceful and professional conduct of the just concluded poll in the State.
Mrs Babalola made the statement at the collation centre of the 2024 Ondo state governorship election in Akure, the Ondo state capital.
She applauded the orderliness of the voters, party agents as well as the security agencies for maintaining peace and order in all the polling units across the state.
Confidence Okwuchi
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