The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Biodun Oyebanji has been declared the winner of the Saturday’s Ekiti Governorship election.
Flowing from the resounding victory, the ruling party has poked the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which came third.
Said APC’s spokesman, Barrister Felix Morka: “Unsurprisingly, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) finished a distant third position in the just-concluded election. Despite its claim to a self-serving and self-assigned rescue mission of Nigeria, the people of Ekiti State and, by extension, Nigerians are not, in any way, deceived by the ceaseless propaganda of a desperate party that only seeks a return to power to continue its ruinous escapades.
Morka called on Nigerians, that as the 2023 general elections draw near, to sustain their support for our party by voting overwhelmingly for all APC candidates as the party remains unwavering in its commitment to improving the quality of governance and standard of living.
Declaring the winner, Prof. Oyebode Adebowale, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer, said Oyebanji polled a total of 187, 057 to win the election.
He said that Oyebanji had certified the law and was, therefore, declared the winner.
“That I, Prof. Oyebode Adebowale, hereby certify that I am the Returning Officer of the Ekiti 2022 Governorship Election held on June 18.
“That Biodun Oyebanji, the candidate of APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared winner and returned,” Adebowale declared.
The INEC Returning Officer, who is also the Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, while giving the break down of the total votes scored by the participated political parties, said that Mr Segun Oni, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, scored 82, 211, to come second.
According to him, others were the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Chief Bisi Kolawole, who polled 67,457; Accord Party (AP) scored 166; African Action Congress (AAC) 409; All Progressives Grand Alliance,(APGA) 17 while Action Democratic Congress (ADC) polled 141 votes.
Also, the Action Democratic Party (ADP) scored 5,597; Allied Peoples Movement (APM) -290; Labour Party (LP) polled 195 votes; New Nigeria Peoles Party (NNPP) scored 529 and National Rescue Movement (NRM) 347.
The rest were, Young Progressives Party (YPP)-618; All Peoples Party (APP) polled 1,980 and Zenith Labour Party,(ZLP) polled 282; Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) polled 856.
According to the INEC Returning Officer, the total numbers of registered voters were 989,224, accredited voters, 363,438, valid votes were, 351,865 and voided votes were 8888.
However, the Ekiti South West Local Government area Collation Officer, Prof. Gbolagade Jonathan, said there were issues of ballot snatching at Ward 6 , Units 5 and 7.
Jonathan, while giving his reports, said they were about sorting the results when gunmen stormed the affected units and started shooting sporadically making the people to run for safety, while they carted away the ballot boxes in the process.
He explained that the two affected units had a total numbers of accredited voters of 266 and 128 respectively.
Meanwhile, the APC spokesman, noted that
the well-deserved victory in Ekiti State is an eloquent testimony of the acceptance of the party and its leadership adding that the “towering accomplishments of incumbent Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode John Fayemi, provided a solid predicate for this decisive victory.”
▪︎ Additional reports by NAN
