The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Bamidele Akingboye and the deputy governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Hon Dayo Awude, have rejected the results by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declaring Hon Lucky Aiyedatiwa, as the Governor- Elect.
Aiyedatiwa, who was the candidate of the All Progressive Congress was declared winner of the last Saturday’s governorship election after polling a total of 366,781 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ajayi Agboola of the People’s Democratic Party, who scored 117,845 votes.
Speaking in Akure, the Social Democratic Party governorship candidate, Bamidele Akingboye, called for the nullification of the poll.
Akingboye rejected the results of the election, insisting that the poll was marred by irregularities, hence INEC should conduct a fresh exercise.
“It was supposed to be the day that Ondo people was supposed to liberate themselves from the slavery and the hunger that they’ve been for some time but what I saw was shocking. (0:50) Shocking to me.
“For me, I mentioned to them that this election was not accepted in my unit because they were doing open bazaar auction. PDP will do theirs, APC will do theirs nut I told them that as a credible person, as somebody that has integrity, I will never partake in unlawful acts in Nigeria.
“And as I’ve been saying, if we want a brand new Nigeria, somebody must start it which I’ve shown to the whole world yesterday, that I’m a credible person and I will never abide with their system of electioneering in Nigeria.
“And I believe that what we have seen, the results they’ve put in together, which we’ve been hearing that the results have been written even before the election. They have exhibited it today and we’re rejecting it because it is not the truthful result.”
Akingboye also asked the INEC to declare his as the winner of the election.
“I’m asking that INEC should declare me as the winner of this election because people were supposed to come out to vote for me, they chased all our party agents out of their polling units. I’m considering myself as the winner of this election and INEC should declare me the winner of this election”, the candidate declared.
The state Chairman of the party, Barrister Gbenga Akinbuli corroborated the candidate, describing the exercise as a sham and a slap on democracy.
Akinbuli said that “We have come out to voice our minds about the sham that took place on Saturday, the disgrace, the slap on democracy that took place called election.
“We as a political party, we are condemning the Ondo State gubernatorial election that took place on the 16th of November 2024 and we are calling for the immediate cancellation of the election.
“Our reason is clear. It’s very clear. I have never seen an open show of shame like I did yesterday. In my polling unit, ward 10, Unit 19, Ondo West Local Government, APC was offering N10,000 to vote voters, PDP was offering 7,000, they were doing bazaar, the highest bidder and I saw it with my two eyes. They intimidated our polling unit agent on duty.
“I had to go in and stand in as the agent in my own polling unit because they chased out everybody, even PDP agents.
” This so-called polling unit, the property to which we had the election, belonged to me, my own personal property”
“The total vote cast on my unit was 175 because people refused to come out, because they threatened them and it got to a time, I had to call my people, go and start knocking at doors, tell people to come out.
” They said no, that their children had warned them, that they should not come out. That APC had vowed that it will be a do or die elections.
“We are saying that the election was marked by gross malpractices, electoral offense, vote buying, voter intimidation, even writing of votes.
“How can you explain in the local government where the chairman of the campaign committee is from, where in her own polling unit she scored 18 votes and then they are recording for us a total of 22 votes. How is that possible? We had over 2,000 agents, close to 3,000 agents.”
He stressed that, “In Okitipupa local government, where the governorship candidate is from, how would they record two votes for the candidate?
“We’re asking for immediate cancellation of that election, we’re asking for the cancellation of that show of shame that took place. I won’t call it an election, it was buyer and seller’s day, it was just like Bazaar”, he added.
He added that if nothing is the done, the party will approach a court of competent jurisdiction to seek redress.
* Financial strength earns Aiyedatiwa victory – LP, Awude
Also, in a statement issued after the declaration of the result, the deputy governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Hon Dayo Awude, said that ” I do hope and pray that vote trading will become a thing of the past in our electoral system.
“There is no gains saying the fact that the show of naira force that was at play in this election decided where the pendulum of victory swung.
” I would have been happier if this victory was won without the vote bazaar that characterized it.
“So long as vote buying remains the decider of election results in our clime, accountable and good governance may continue to elude us.
“Leaders should hold their victory to the benevolence and judgement of the people and not to how deep their pockets are.
Lastly, let me opine that all contestants should avoid the usual circus of not accepting the result of election and heading to the Election Tribunal.
“Much as that is a fundamental right of any and every citizen, this election was won by Ayedatiwa, the man who had more financial capacity to show. Any court case now may be an unnecessary distraction.
“Let me say once again that the only way Ayedatiwa can justify what he has now is to use it to work for the people of Ondo State and not to delve into the arena of fighting perceived enemies and acquiring ungodly wealth.
“He should look beyond the borders of party politics and enlist the best hands to work with him.
“The time to work for our people is here. In spite of the Nigerian heat, Ondo State can be a Goshen. It’s time to roll up the sleeves and work for the people of Ondo state.
— Why our names were substituted – LP, Awude
Speaking on the substitution of his name and that of the party’s governorship candidate, Chief Olusola Ebiseni, by INEC, Awude said that “the intra- party crisis in the party led to the action by INEC, hours before the election.
Awude in the statement, said that the intra party crisis in the party consumed all their efforts.
He said that “My principal and I tried our best, using the Labour Party platform, but as it turned out, the intra party crisis that erupted in the party consumed that effort, leading to my name and that of our governorship candidate, Chief Sola Ebiseni, being substituted by INEC, a few hours to the election, due to an unexpected court order.
” It was an order that defied all known basic rudiments of law. That was a heart-wrenching experience. The details of the politics of that orchestrated crisis and the intrigues of the judicial processes is a story that will be told later.
“With the removal of our names as candidates came the expected volte face by our supporters. Their pain and agony were palpable.
” It was on this note and as a matter of principle that I declined the last minute invitation, by a respected brother and right hand man of Governor Aiyedatiwa, for me to work with them at the elections the next day.
“I believe he was acting on the instructions of the governor. It also means the governor, despite the power of Incumbency, worked very hard to win the election, reaching out to people to join him even to the very last minute.
” l can say with all sense of responsibility that we put in our best into the exercise in terms of reaching out to the grass roots, but then, the unexpected jolted the process.
“Despite the removal of our names, some of our supporters still voted for the Labour Party. To this set of people, I say thank you.
“To our original teaming supporters who were part of the process till the point of our names being removed, I also say thank you.
“Without prejudice to any course of action that may be taken by any interested party on the outcome of the process, I urge Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the man who has been declared winner by INEC, to use this opportunity as a tool of service to God and the people of Ondo State in good conscience.
Meanwhile, a foreign observer group, International Police Chaplain Sustainable Development and Law Enforcement Inc. USA, said that the results of the election declared by lNEC, truly reflected the records of the ballot boxes at the polling units.
It’s spokesperson and Director of Administration and Organisations at the African Regional Command, Mr. Oscar David, said this while presenting the assessment analysis for the off-cycle election in the state.
David urged candidates and political actors to resort to legal channels in case of contestation and disagreement in results, to sustain social peace and avoidance of breakdown of law and order.
He said that the election was very peaceful, transparency, credible and successful, with minimal incidences and complaints by party agents at polling units and collation centre.
According to him “The IPCSL mission commends the People of Ondo State in their conducts and cooperation with our Time Members across the LGAs, Political Parties and all Stakeholders for enabling environment towards successful election, with show of patriotism and democratic culture.
He urged them “to continue to work to preserve national peace and stability in order to consolidate democracy and the rule of law, especially in a challenging socio-political context in the country.
“The Mission asserts, without fear of any contradictions, that the final result declared by INEC truly reflect the records of the ballot boxes at Polling Units.
” IPCSL welcomes the good collaboration between the various International Missions and Domestic Observers. Likewise, we salute the quality of the exchanges and shared experiences in the Mission to Ondo State.”
The group recommended that INEC should continue to interact with Political Parties and the Civil Society Community in order to strengthen and deepen the nation’s Democracy while more intense voters education and mass sensitization by both electoral body and political parties should be strengthen.
“As was made in our Edo Report, our Mission Team recommends further review of the Electoral Laws and Guidelines to tackle few challenges and incidences observed that need adequate legislations.
“Further improvement in security strategies to build more confidence and reduce voter’s suppression”.
Also, the mission, said it deployed 50 director official of its organisation to the three senatorial districts of the state, while engaging and collaborating with 20 domestic observer organisations that mobilized and deployed 10 experienced persons each, making a total of 200 Domestic Officials who were sent to the 18 Local Government Areas of the State.
“Our Mission Team observed further improvements on the mobilization and participation of the Security apparatus in the Ondo Election.
“Unlike the Edo Election wherein the Military were over mobilized and seen in almost every nooks and cranny, the Ondo scenario was largely the Police and Civil Defense Corps that were seen at Polling Units and Streets, with Army generally restricted to border areas and flashpoints.
“The Security conducted itself professionally and did not interfere in the processes. IPCSL commends the performance of the Security Agencies in this Election.
“Electoral Officials: INEC appears to be intense in training and re-training of its Staff and Ad-Hoc Workers as the Ondo Election largely witnessed improved performance in the Service of Electoral Officials, with negligible cases of poor handling of Equipment and Voters on the part of the Electoral Officials.
“The BVAS functioned well, except in isolated cases, while accreditation, voting, counting and collation exercises were generally satisfactory and acceptable by the Party Agents on ground, as only in very few Polling Units did we observe rancor or rejection of outcome at point of counting.
“On voting day, our mission randomly visited over 200 polling stations across the 18 Local Government Areas, and in randomly selected Wards.
“Most Polling Units opened at the official time (8:30 a.m.); some were, however, late in opening owing to transportation logistics as they informed us.”
He noted that 17 political parties fielded candidates for the election, however, only two were highly visible and did remarkable mobilizations of party agents across the Polling Units of the 18 LGAs of the State.
“The 2 Parties were the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Both Parties performed above average in mobilization of Agents and Electorates, while other were almost absent in on voting day.
“In terms of overall voter’s mobilization, the attendance and turnout in Polling Units varied significantly across LGAs; some witnessed massive voter’s turnout, while some experienced notable voter’s apathy, which was attributed to low morale resulting from economic hardship in the country generally, coupled with dwindling interest of citizen in political activities.”
He noted that some isolated incidences of vote trading were observed in Idanre LGA.
