Olusegun Ariyo
The All Progressive congress Candidate in the person of Mr Abayomi Oyebanji has been declared the winner of the Election that Took Place yesterday in Ekiti state
Oyebanji, who is the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, won in 15 out of the 16 Local Government Areas of the state. He polled 187,057 votes.
However, his closest challenger, Mr Segun Oni, of the Social Democratic Party, scored 82,211 votes while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bisi Kolawole, scored 67,457 votes. Kolawole won his LGA, Efon, where he scored 6,303 to beat APC’s 4,012 and SDP’s 339 votes.
There was wide jubilation in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital in the early hours of Sunday as residents trooped to the streets to celebrate the victory in the dead of the night. At the Government House in the Oke Ayoba area of the town, other APC governors, led by the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, monitored the exercise.
Similarly, in Ikogosi-Ekiti, Ekiti West Local Government Area, where Oyebanji hails from, residents also began celebrating the victory of their kinsman at the poll.
Also in Ikere-Ekiti, where Oyebanji’s running mate, Mrs Monitade Afuye, hails from, residents also began celebrating as the results were announced by the respective local government Returning Officers.
In different parts of the state also, some members of the ruling party celebrated the victory, describing it as well-deserved.
Urban Express-News gathered that prior to the announcement of the results at the collation centre, all the results from the 16 local government areas had been uploaded on the Result Viewing Portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission, known as IReV.
However, there were isolated cases of violence in some polling units. For example, in Ekiti South-West Local Government Area, the APC scored 9,679 votes ahead of SDP’s 4,577 and PDP’s 4,474 votes. The Returning Officer for the LGA, Prof Gbolagade Jonathan, reported that there was violence in Units 5 and 7, where he said some hoodlums from nowhere carted away the ballot boxes, after firing gunshots.
Also, in Ikere LGA, the APC also won with 12,086 votes against the PDP and SDP, which scored 3,789 and 1943 respectively. The Returning Officer, Prof Emmanuel Ajava, announced that votes in Unit 2 of the LGA were cancelled due to violence.
Although the governorship election was held across the 16 Local Government Areas and was relatively peaceful, incidents of vote-buying characterized the poll.
Candidates and agents of some political parties also alleged inducement of voters to deprive them of the opportunity of making their free choices.
It was gathered that some party agents were arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged vote-buying at a polling station at Ola Oluwa Grammar School, Ado Ekiti during the election.
A source, who spoke on the development, said the suspects were apprehended with a bag of cash allegedly being used to induce voters.
“One of the suspects, who claimed to be a party agent, was arrested and has been taken into custody,” the source said.
The Social Democratic Party’s governorship candidate, Chief Segun Oni, who voted at Ward 2, Unit 6 in Ifaki-Ekiti his home town, complained of vote-buying in Ado Ekiti and Oye Ekiti.
Oni, who described vote-buying as a violation of the Electoral Act, said, “I have been told that selling and buying of votes are going on in Ado and Oye. This is not allowed by the law. I want security agents to move in and stop those doing that.”
Also, the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Dr Wole Oluyede, who voted at Igele Arokun Ward 3, Unit 6, Ikere Ekiti, said there was brazen vote-buying in the community allegedly perpetrated by agents of the All Progressives Congress.
The APC candidate, Oyebanji, also denied reports that he wooed voters with money in his hometown.
Oyebanji, in a statement by his media aide, Raheem Akingbolu, titled, ‘Oyebanji didn’t give money to any voter,’ said, “Contrary to the malicious report, neither Oyebanji nor any of his supporters gave money to anybody at any polling unit in Ikogosi. Aside from being Oyebanji’s town, the candidate enjoys overwhelming support in the community with the optimism of recording a 100 per cent result.”