Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari has received the newly elected Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Biodun Oyebanji.
The Governor-elect was led to the State House by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Abdullahi Adamu.
Read Also: President Buhari Congratulates Ekiti State Governor-Elect Oyebanji
Speaking to State House Correspondents at the end of the brief visit, the APC Chairman thanked the people of Ekiti State and the media for the enormous support the party received before, during and after the election.
President Muhammadu @MBuhari on Monday received the Ekiti State Governor-Elect @biodunaoyebanji at the State House following Saturday’s election victory. In the delegation was the APC National Chairman @SenAbdullahiA accompanied by some @PGFNigeria Governors. pic.twitter.com/tB34l7SGLL
— APC Nigeria (@OfficialAPCNg) June 20, 2022
He said: “I want to share with you our gratitude for the mammoth support that the party received and the support we got from the people and your colleagues, who are members of the fourth estate of the realm, in the course of preparation for the election, during the election and post-election.
“The relationship has been commendable, we like it and we will work to sustain it by the grace of God in the interest of the survival of democracy in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, who doubled as the Chairman of the APC campaign Council for the Ekiti election, told Journalists that President Buhari was very happy with the performance of the APC in the election.
“The President was very impressed and very happy with the performance of the party under the leadership of our National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu and he congratulated him as such,” he said.
Bagudu said the party was well supported in Ekiti because of the performance of the current Governor of the State, Dr Kayode Fayemi.
He added that the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) by the Independent National Electoral Commission as well as adequate security measures taken by agencies concerned, led to the successful completion of the election.
“Our party did so well and our party’s candidate scored slightly above 187, 000 while the runner up got 82, 000, meaning a difference of over 100, 000. That showed the confidence that our party earns in Ekiti State.
“This is because of the performance of our Governor and the peoples’ love for our candidate, our party and our presidential flag bearer. We told the President that this was an election where the BVAS machine worked properly and the results of the election were turned-in in good time.
“The security arrangement was also quite impressive and this couldn’t have been possible without the President’s commitment to building institutions that can deliver free, transparent and fair elections,” he added.
The governor-elect, Biodun Oyebanji, said that as far as they are concerned, neither he nor his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), was involved in the widespread vote-buying alleged to have taken place during last Saturday’s election that he won.
Oyebanji secured 187,057 votes, defeating his two closest challengers — Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who polled 82,211 votes, and Bisi Kolawole of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) who got 67,457 votes.
He said he did not witness any vote-buying in the polling unit where he voted, adding that he won the poll based on the performance of the outgoing administration in the state in which he played a prominent role.
The former Secretary to Ekiti State Government said he canvassed for votes using the record of performance of the administration and his manifesto, which spelt out what he had to offer the people going forward.
