The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Rotimi Akeredolu, in the wee hours of Sunday, November 29, 2016 surged into an early lead as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, announced election results in some local government areas in the Ondo State governorship elections of Saturday.
The LGA results announced by the electoral body included those of Ile Oluji/Oke Igbo, Akoko North-East, Ifedore and Irele, where Akeredolu coasted home to victory just as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Eyitayo Jegede, won in Ondo-East LGA.
The candidate of the Alliance for Democracy, Olusola Oke, closely trailed Jegede in the five LGAs.
The Ondo election has been the subject of controversies ranging from Eyitayo Jegede emerging as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after a Supreme Court judgment ruled against erstwhile factional candidate of same party, Jimoh Ibrahim. The PDP called for a postponement of the election although this was rejected by INEC.
Despite the tension that characterised the countdown to the Ondo governorship poll, the election, which went under way on Saturday without any major violence, was, however, marked by massive vote buying.
Most of the major actors in the race complained that voters were heavily induced by politicians, who stormed polling booths with bags of money to openly buy votes.
The election recorded a remarkable turnout in the three senatorial districts of the state.
It was gathered that about N450,000 was budgeted for each polling unit by the major political parties with each voter getting between N3,000 and N5,000.
Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, told one of our correspondents covering the election that anarchy ruled in the state as votes were publicly bought.
He accused the All Progressives Congress of perpetrating massive electoral fraud by giving money to voters in exchange for votes.
He said, “What is happening in Ondo State presently is anarchy. The APC and INEC are trying to rig the poll with the use of malfunctioning card readers and inducement of voters.”
Elder statesman, Chief Olu Falae, described the act of vote buying during the election as a worrying development even as he accused security men and the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission of complicity.
“I have heard of people bribing voters in Akure here. I have heard they are offering N3,000 per vote. It is very worrisome. This is a way of comprising the will of the people.
“It is for the government of the day to make a decision to stop this trend. There were many police officers in those polling units, what were they doing? They could arrest them but they didn’t do that. Without the collusion of the electoral officers and the security agents, that (inducement of voters) can’t succeed,” Falae said.
Official Results
(1) IRELE LGA Total Reg. Voters : 60,264 Accred. Voters: 26,225 @APCNigeria : 11,138 @OfficialPDPNig : 5,907 AD : 6,710 APC wins
(2)ONDO East LGA Total Reg. Voters : 45050 Accred Voters: 15987 @APCNigeria : 4253 @OfficialPDPNig : 7317 AD: 2742 PDP wins
(3)Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo LGA Reg Voters: 66090 Accred Voters: 26281 @OfficialPDPNig : 8,306 AD: 4525 SDP: 144 @APCNigeria : 10681 APC Wins
(4)AKOKO North/East LGA Reg Voters: 72911 Accred Voters: 31129 @APCNigeria: 13,645 @OfficialPDPNig : 6496 AD: 5867 APC Wins
(5)IFEDORE LGA Reg. Voters: 70359 Accred. Voters: 24501 @APCNigeria :10958 @OfficialPDPNig : 6747 AD: 4629 APC Wins
(6)OSE LGA Reg. Voters : 63,397 Accred. Voters : 26,548 @APCNigeria : 13,454 @OfficialPDPNig : 6,520 AD: 4, 272 APC Wins
(7)ONDO WEST LGA Reg. Voters: 155,346 Accred. Voters: 40,028 @APCNigeria : 10, 672 @OfficialPDPNig :17,382 AD: 7,154 PDP Wins
(8) Akure North LGA Reg. Voter: 65,268 Accred. Voters: 24,076 @APCNigeria: 10710 @OfficialPDPNig: 6498 AD: 4128 APC wins
(9) Akoko South East LGA Reg. Voters: 31,068 Accred. Voters: 14,036 @APCNigeria : 6,384 @OfficialPDPNig: 4,239 AD: 2, 270 APC Wins
(10)AKOKO South West LGA Reg. Voters: 93,314 Accred Voters: 40,719 @APCNigeria : 19,892 @OfficialPDPNig : 7,691 AD: 9,359 APC Wins
(11)AKOKO North West LGA Reg voters: 64,735 Accred: 30,369 @APCNigeria: 13,048 @OfficialPDPNig: 6,049 AD: 4,831 APC Wins
Note: Result of Akoko North did not match the total votes cast. The officer has been asked to go sort it out for re-announcement.
(12)OKITIPUPA LGA Reg. Voters: 99,359 Accred. Voters: 43,518 @APCNigeria: 14, 930 AD: 16,294 @OfficialPDPNig: 8,031 AD Wins
Note: Also, the Okitipupa LGA result did not sum up. The INEC officer has been asked to go and sort it out for re-announcement.
(13)OWO LGA Reg. Voters: 118,131 Accred. Voters: 42,759 @APCNigeria: 32,988 @OfficialPDPNig: 4,241 AD: 2,469 APC Wins
