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 the winner of the election on Sunday, 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 People’s Democratic Party flag.
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 2:30 pm 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 collation 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 to power on December 27, 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 faced stiff competition from Agboola in the leadup to the election but in his campaigns, he promised a better economy and welfare package 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 – as a pointer to this.
But the PDP candidate, Agboola Ajayi, has 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.”
