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APC wins Ekiti gov election, thrashes SDP, PDP

The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Biodun Oyebanji, the winner of the Ekiti State governorship election.

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The Returning Officer for the election, Prof Kayode Adebowale, who is the Vice Chancellor, the University of Ibadan, announced the results.

Adebowale said, “Oyebanji, having scored the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner and returned elected as the governor-elect of Ekiti State”

The APC scored 187,057 votes to defeat its closest rival, the SDP, which garnered 82,211 votes, the PDP, which got 67,457 votes and 13 other parties which participated in Saturday’s governorship election.

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Out of the 360,753 votes cast, the total valid votes in the election were 351,865.

While the agent of SDP, Owoseeni Ajayi, did not sign the forms for the votes cast, the agent of the ADP, said, “Instead of having polling centres, what we have in Ekiti are vote-buying centres”.

Supporters of the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State erupted in jubilation in the early hours of today (Sunday) when the results of Saturday’s governorship election showed that the candidate of the party, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, trounced the 15 other candidates that partook in the exercise.

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 pulled 187,057 votes.

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Meanwhile, our correspondents who monitored the exercise across the state reported that in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, 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 celebration as the results were announced by the respective local government Returning Officers.

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In different parts of the state also, some members of the ruling party celebrated the victory, describing it as well-deserved.

Our correspondents observed 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.

PUNCH reported that the commission promised to adopt the electronic transmission of results, even though it would be complemented by manual transmission.

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 held across the 16 Local Government Areas and was relatively peaceful, incidents of vote-buying characterised 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

(Punch)