AFTER months of intense campaigns and political intrigues, Ondo residents have chosen their governor for the next four years – Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
The Returning Officer for the election Olayemi Akinwumi, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi State declared Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the election, extending the governor’s stay at the Government House in Alagbaka, Akure.
Aiyedatiwa, the incumbent governor of the Sunshine State polled 366, 781 votes to defeat his closest rival and a former deputy governor of the state Ajayi Agboola who flew the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer. He scored 117, 845 votes, more than twice lower than the APC candidate.
“That Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa of the APC having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” the returning officer said at exactly 2:30pm at the INEC collation centre in Akure.
The declaration came hours after the collation of results for the election began in the early hours of Sunday. Although the centre went on breaks, the APC took a commanding lead with over 200,000 votes ahead of the PDP.
The final results showed that the APC won the election in a landslide, clearing all 18 local government areas.
Having been declared the winner of the election, Aiyedatiwa is set to extend his stay at the helm of affairs in the oil-rich state. He – a former deputy governor – ascended into the leadership of the South-West state on December 27th, 2023 after Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s death.
Akeredolu died on the same day after a lengthy battle with illness and had before his demise transmitted power to Aiyedatiwa.
He thereafter won the APC’s ticket for the 2024 governorship election in Ondo, pitting him against 17 other candidates including Agboola who was also a former deputy to Akeredolu during his first term in office.
Aiyedatiwa faces stiff competition from Agboola in the leadup to the election but in his campaigns, he promised a better economy and welfare for workers across the state. The governor pointed to his signing of N73,000 as minimum wage – higher than the N70,000 earmarked by the Federal Government – in the state as a pointer to this.
Voting on the election began early with INEC officials arriving at the polling units at dawn.
The exercise was largely peaceful with little or known cases of violence. Governor Aiyedatiwa after casting his vote expressed confidence about his victory, hinging his hopes on the “good works” of his government.
“I believe I’m in an advantaged position to win this election because of the work that I have done in the last 10 months since I assumed office as the governor of the state,” he said.
“We traversed the entire 18 local governments; and visited communities all across.”
But the PDP candidate accused INEC of compromising the election. He accused the electoral body of deliberating slowing the process – a ploy to rig the poll.
“The system is compromised and I have had a series of calls today. People are complaining about vote buying and the BVAS is not working,” he said on Saturday after voting.
“It is a very shameful exercise and I think Nigerians should just call on the chairman of the electoral commission Prof Mahmood Yakubu. If you cannot do the job, please just honourably resign. He should resign. This is embarrassing. It [election] is totally compromised.”
Though the election went on smoothly, observers believe it was marred by vote-buying across the state. They said the trend went on “openly and unchecked”.
“Situation Room notes the trend of persistent vote trading during elections in Nigeria,” the Situation Room said in its assessment of the poll.
“This situation has continued unabatedly, and heightened in this election. It is worrying that, despite the high presence of security personnel at the polling units, vote trading went on openly and unchecked during the voting hours.”