The re-election of Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Saturday’s election has sparked controversy, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PPP) rejecting the results and alleging electoral fraud.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) disagreed with the PDP on the conduct and outcome of the poll, insisting that it was free, fair and credible.
The electoral commission declared Aiyedatiwa the winner after he secured a total of 366,781 votes, defeating the PDP’s Agboola Ajayi, who garnered 117,845 votes.
Announcing the governor’s victory on Sunday, the State Returning Officer, Prof Olayemi Akinwumi, said, “That Ayedatiwa Lucky Orimisan of APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby returned elected.”
Aiyedatiwa swept all 18 Local Government Areas in the state, prompting both criticism and defence from various quarters.
But reacting to the election outcome, the PDP, through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, described the election as a sham, accusing the APC of engaging in vote-buying, intimidation, and other manipulative tactics to suppress voters’ will.
Ologunagba stated, “This election witnessed widespread election merchandising, monetization, and barefaced vote buying by the APC. This reprehensible practice threatens Nigeria’s democracy and must be addressed if our democratic system is to survive.
“This devious practice by the APC was rampant and pervasive because the APC have utterly impoverished Nigerians and turned poverty into a weapon of mass subjugation which enabled it to manipulate the election and its outcome.’’
The party PDP called on Nigerians and the international community to investigate the election, insisting it fell short of the standards of a free, fair, and credible process. The party announced plans for a detailed review of the election and pledged to take steps to protect democracy.
“We call the attention of all Nigerians and the International Community to this reprehensible practice by the APC as widely witnessed in Ondo State and we demand that serious action be taken to stem such if Nigeria’s democracy must survive. In the meantime, the National Working Committee of the PDP will be having a more detailed review of the election outcome and take appropriate action in the defence of our democracy,” he further stated.
In his reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said the Ondo governorship poll was “one of the best ever conducted’’ by the commission.
He stated, “The timetable and schedule of activities was released one year ahead, and 13 activities were listed. Each activity, from the beginning to the end was meticulously executed. And in doing so, we carried all political parties along. In fact, INEC met with political parties four times in the course of the year where all critical issues concerning the election were discussed. The PDP never complained about anything at these meetings.
“Besides, the PDP was given the opportunity to nominate their polling units and collation agents, which they did. And in the just concluded election, INEC achieved two main feats: 97 per cent of the 3933 polling units in the state were opened by 8.30am, while 100 per cent were opened by 10am. This points to the meticulous planning and follow-up we did with transport providers, which worked excellently.”
Oyekanmi praised the functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System which he put at over 98 per cent, adding that by 7pm on election day, 92 per cent of the results had been uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing portal.
‘’The only complaint by the PDP a few weeks to the Election Day, was an allegation of bias against our Resident Electoral Commissioner for Ondo State. But there was no single proof to substantiate the allegation. The Commission thus ignored the party’s demand for her removal,’’ he noted.
Reacting to the allegations, APC’s National Publicity Director, Bala Ibrahim, dismissed the PDP’s claims as baseless and habitual.
He said, “If there’s a natural disaster in Nigeria, the PDP will blame it on the APC. They fail to understand that Nigerians are more conscious of their votes now and have rejected the PDP’s 16 years of mismanagement. Why is it that the PDP only praises INEC when they win?”
Ibrahim emphasised that the significant margin of victory—over 200,000 votes—was a clear indication of Aiyedatiwa’s popularity and dismissed any suggestion of manipulation.
The Labour Party’s candidate, Ayodele Olorunfemi, expressed frustration over his loss and blamed his party’s internal conflicts and the influence of Peter Obi, the former LP presidential candidate, for his poor performance.
Olorunfemi alleged that party leaders, including former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president, Abduwaheed Omar, sabotaged his campaign.
Olorunfemi claimed his reinstatement on the ballot just days before the election by a Court of Appeal ruling left him with insufficient time to campaign effectively.
He also accused Obi’s ally, Olusola Ebiseni, of forging documents to undermine his candidacy.
But the acting chairman of the NLC Political Commission, Professor Theophilus Ndubuaku, dismissed Olorunfemi’s accusations, alleging that he had been involved in financial deals over the party’s ticket.
The African Democratic Congress candidate, Myson Nejo, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party candidate, Gbenga Edema, decried the widespread vote-buying during the election. Nejo revealed that votes were sold for as much as ₦20,000 in some polling units.
Nejo said, “The reaction of the people? I thank the good people of Ondo Street for voting for me without giving them any money, and they still voted for me. I want to believe that my vote is a valid vote because there was nothing like vote-buying or any unethical practices on my side. So far, I want to believe I’m a winner in this election.”
Edema blamed the vote-buying culture for the deliberate impoverishment of the masses by those in power, making them susceptible to financial inducements during elections.
He lamented, “I refused to buy votes, and that cost me the election. But I am satisfied with my integrity.”
Dr Abass Mimiko of the Zenith Labour Party acknowledged the reality of vote-buying and stated that the electorate’s choice must be respected, regardless of how votes were secured.
The leadership of the Labour Party also condemned the outcome of Ondo governorship election, alleging that it was fraught with irregularities, vote-buying and intimidation of voters.
This was disclosed by the National Legal Adviser of LP, Kehinde Edun, in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH.
Edun insisted that it was obvious the Governor Aiyedatiwa had devised a monetised means of exploiting the voters and equally had the federal might backing him all the way.
“This idea of giving the votes to the highest bidder is so unfortunate. Most of the time, you will observe how the party in power attempts to buy off everybody. That is also what the governor did. He has the federal apparatus available to him also,” Edun said.
“They have so much money to spend. That was what happened here. We saw a similar situation in Edo. It is unfortunate that our people are still going into elections with this mindset. The usual saying is that all parties are the same. Why don’t I just collect what I can collect from them now? But it is not always true. We cannot continue this way.
“But we will continue to educate our people not give in to vote-buying. We know ow there is so much hunger in the land and it is so tempting for them not to collect money for votes. Again, we learnt they have people stationed nearby monitoring them. If they collect and fail to vote for them, there will be repercussion. The electorate knows this too. So, it is difficult to resist the temptation in the face of hunger.”
Meanwhile, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Sylvester Alabi, disclosed that three individuals were arrested for attempting to snatch ballot boxes during the election.
He denied reports of vote buying under police supervision and urged the public to provide evidence of electoral malpractice to enable law enforcement action.
“I am aware that there was somebody who was arrested by DSS, and up till now he has not been handed over to us for proper investigation, that’s all I can say about that.
There was an attempt to snatch ballot box in Idanre and three people were arrested with regard to that. Currently, they are under investigation, and the outcome of the investigation will be reviewed by the public.”
On the reported vote buying, Alabi said no such incident was reported to the police.
He noted, “There is nowhere vote will be traded in the presence of police officers without them responding promptly to arrest those who are involved because it’s one of their mandates. Whoever submitted that report should come up with proof.
“To the best of my knowledge, nobody reported votes being traded in the presence of police officers. I can confirm to you authoritatively. Nothing of that happened to the best of my knowledge because nobody reported that to us at any of our police formations. So, I expect that those who saw them doing that should have taken a step further to report to the officer in charge of that area so that arrest can be made.”
However, Aiyedatiwa denied knowledge of vote-buying by APC agents assigned to polling units in the state.
He also ruled out the speculation about a growing feud between him and the PDP candidate, Agboola Ajayi, following the rejection of the poll outcome by the opposition party.
The governor disclosed this when he was featured as a guest on Sunday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
He said, “For us, it is what we worked for. I didn’t pay money for votes. I am not aware that any party member bought votes on my behalf. And there won’t be any reason to buy votes because Ondo people know what they want.
“Both of us (including Agboola Ajayi) served under the late governor (Rotimi Akeredolu) and they knew our relationship with the late principal. We have access to one another and à free flow of communication. We have no bad blood, which also doesn’t exist this time.
“Honestly, even though we are chasing the same cheese as it were, it is not by fight or do-or-die. We relate well. When I won my primary, Agboola congratulated me and I congratulated him when he won the PDP ticket.”
Asked if Ajayi or any of his opponents had reached out to congratulate him after the governorship election outcome, he said, “Well, I am saying the same. I have not seen any (of the calls) yet. I don’t know, except I check my phone again,” he said.
On whether he plans to call his political opponents, the governor hesitated before declaring it was too early for him to start considering such action.
He said, “It is still too early. The declaration by INEC was just some hours ago. But we are not divided in any way. Look, a political party is just a platform to take you to your destination.
“During our engagement with INEC at the stakeholders meeting, we shook hands and related very well.”
Also, on the issue of vote-buying, a source at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said though no arrest has been made so far, a discreet investigation was ongoing to identify those involved in vote-buying and their sponsors.
The top official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told The PUNCH that any person found culpable would not only be arrested but also prosecuted.
“The EFCC always embarks on discreet investigations, and this one is on the reported widespread vote-buying in Saturday’s good election in Ondo State.
“For now, no arrest has been made, but we have embarked on a discreet investigation aimed at arresting the agents of vote-buying and their sponsors.
“They (vote-buyers and their sponsors) will not only be arrested, they will be prosecuted if found culpable,” the official said.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu on Sunday felicitated with Governor Aiyedatiwa on his victory.
He also commended the peaceful conduct of the process.
Tinubu conveyed his congratulatory message in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, titled “President Tinubu congratulates Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa on the election in Ondo State.”
The president congratulated Aiyedatiwa and other candidates for the maturity and sense of purpose demonstrated during the campaigns and the election, attributing the success of the polls to the civility in the state.
“He enjoins the political actors to allow their orderly conduct to permeate the post-election activities and processes.
“President Tinubu believes the Ondo State election was another litmus test of the capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission, affirming that the electoral body justified the confidence of the people with early preparations, deployment of staff and materials, and handling of the electoral process,” the statement read.
The President also commended INEC for the efficiency of uploading more than 98 per cent of results on the same day of the elections.
