Jubilation erupted in the camp of the APC supporters in Ekiti State in the early hours of Sunday after the results of the governorship election held on Saturday showed that Mr. Biodun Oyebanj, their party candidate had won fifteen out of the sixteen Local Government Areas in the state.
The total number of registered voters was 989,224, and accredited voters for the election were 363,438. The total number of votes cast was 360,753 with 351,865 valid votes and 8,888 rejected votes.
The All progressive Congress got a total of 187,057 votes. The Social Democratic Party candidate, Segun Oni, got scored 82,211 votes. Peoples Democratic Party candidate Bisi Kolawole polled 67,457 votes winning only his local government area Efon, with 6,303 votes against APC’s 4,012 and SDP’s 339 votes.
Before the results were announced at the collation center, all the results from the 16 local government areas had been uploaded on the Result Viewing Portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission, known as IReV. This affirms the commission’s promise to adopt the system of electronically transmitting results, which would also be complemented by manual transmission.
Although the Ekiti governorship election held in all 16 Local Government Areas of the state was said to be very peaceful, most of the polling centers had recorded events of vote-buying. Party agents have allegedly convinced voters using money to vote for their candidates, depriving voters of their free will. Some party agents have also been arrested by officers of EFCC at a polling center in Ado Ekiti for trying to buy votes. They were caught with bags of cash and have been taken into custody.
