The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has declared Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Lokoja, Prof Olayemi Akinwunmi, and the Returning Officer of the exercise declared Aiyedatiwa winner at the INEC headquarters, in Akure at 2:30PM on Sunday.
He 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.
He said the total valid votes was 497,077, rejected votes, 11,886 while total votes cast was 508,963.
“Lucky Aiyedatiwa of APC having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” the state returning officer declared.
Precisely, 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 in his local government, Ese-Odo with 14,511 votes while PDP polled 7,814 votes.
On December 27, 2023, Lucky Aiyedatiwa was sworn-in as governor of Ondo State following the death of his principal and former governor, Akeredolu and constitutionally, Aiyedatiwa stepped in to complete the joint tenure of late Akeredolu and himself which ends in February 2025.
Interestingly, with the declaration, Aiyedatiwa will occupy Alagbaka Government House for four years after the expiration of the current dispensation on February 25, 2025.
Agboola Ajayi accused INEC and the security agencies of compromising the election and urged the Chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to resign.
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
Ajayi said 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.
“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.
“And I think people should call on the INEC chairman to resign if he cannot do the job. He should just resign. It is totally compromised. This is sad and Nigerians are not happy. Here, it is peaceful to some extent” he lamented.
