Against
all odds, Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, won a re-election bid,
trouncing his major rivals in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Action
Congress of Nigeria, ACN. But the PDP and ACN have kicked against the outcome
of the election held last Saturday.
Specifically,
the Ondo State chapter of the PDP described the election as fraudulent while
accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and security
agencies of conniving with Labour.
Ironically,
the PDP national leadership conceded victory to Mimiko against the position of
its local chapter.
Impeccable
sources told National Mirror that the leadership of the ACN and its legal team
met in Lagos yesterday from midnight till the early hours of this morning.
It
was learnt that the party had resolved to file a notice at the tribunal against
Mimiko’s victory this week.
“You
know we have 180 days to fight our case. So, we have started the process of
challenging the outcome of the election because we have overwhelming evidence
that the election was flawed,” the source who is a top member of the ACN told
National Mirror last night.
Another
source also accused the Presidency of providing support for Mimiko that enabled
him to win the poll.
For
Mimiko, it was a time to savour victory.
Mimiko
polled 260,199 votes to emerge winner in the governorship election. He won in
13 of the 18 local government councils in the state.
INEC’s
Chief Returning officer, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola, said that the PDP candidate,
Chief Olusola Oke, came second with 155,961 votes, while Chief Rotimi Akeredolu
of ACN, who polled 143,512 votes came third.
Daramola,
the Vice- Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, gave
the total number of registered voters as 1, 639, 500 out of which 645, 597 were
accredited.
He
said the total votes cast was 624,659 while 30, 415 votes were voided and 594,
244 votes were declared valid.
“Having
satisfied all electoral requirements and having polled the highest number of
votes, I hereby declared Governor Olusegun Mimiko as the winner of the
election,” Daramola said.
Winning
13 out of the 18 local government areas in the state, Mimiko secured about 25
per cent votes from the remaining five local government areas.
The
governor had the highest votes from his central senatorial district where he
won in all the six local government areas in the zone.
In
Akure South, Mimiko scored 49,914 votes while he garnered 10,857 votes in Akure
North. He secured 31,280 votes in Ondo West; 8,404 in Ondo East; 15, 990 in
Idanre and 11,062 in Ifedore.
The
governor also won in four out of the six local government areas in the northern
senatorial district, a development which confounded political observers.
The
result of the election placed Peoples Democratic Change, PDC, in distant fourth
position with 21,361 votes.
Better
Nigeria Peoples Party, BNPP, and Congress for Progressives Change, CPC,
followed with 2,949 and 1,931 votes respectively.
Others:
Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN, 1,806 votes; Peoples Progressive
Alliance, PPA, 1,652 votes; All Nigerian People’s Party, ANPP; 1,461 votes;
National Social Democratic Party, NSDP, 1,103 votes; African Political System,
APS, 751 votes; Change Advocacy Party, CAP, 735 votes and National Conscience
Party, NCP, 83 votes.
Mimiko
said the poll result had raised the hope of a better future for the country,
saying Nigeria was moving towards getting the process of selecting its leader’s
right.
He
stated this while addressing supporters who trooped to the Government House at
Alagbaka to rejoice with him on his victory.
The
governor, however, dedicated his victory to all lovers of democracy across the
world and described the election as free, fair and highly credible.
“I
commend every resident of our great state for counting me worthy of leading
them as governor for another four years.
“I
promise to break the jinx of non-performing second term governors by ensuring
that we complete all ongoing projects and initiate new ones for the benefit of
our people.
“There
will be more markets, job opportunities, mega schools, quality health care,
favourable environment for commerce and trade,” he said.
But
the PDP in Ondo State rejected the result of the election.
The
party also accused security personnel and INEC of compromising in some areas
within the state, saying that the election was fraught with irregularities.
The
party’s candidate in the election, Olusola Oke, declined to make any statement
over the declaration of the election result but promised to react at the
appropriate time.
Speaking
with journalists yesterday in Akure, the Director-General of the Olusola
Oke/Saka Lawal Campaign Organisation, Dr. Dare Bada, accused INEC and the
security operatives of conspiring and conniving with the ruling LP to deny some
members of the party their voting rights.
He
said INEC delayed supply of election materials to the local governments, wards
and units where the PDP was popular but did otherwise for LP’s strong areas.
Bada
said: “It is no longer news that that INEC delayed the supply of election
materials to the local governments, wards and units in our stronghold but did
otherwise to the LP’s comfort zone.
“Of
particular note is that the refusal to transfer INEC senior staff, if not by
design was a grave error by the commission as this helped the LP to perpetrate
and complete its predetermined goal.”
Bada
also argued that voting materials for some areas in Ilaje, Ese-Odo, Odigbo and
Irele local government areas were not supplied hours after accreditation.
He
added that INEC neglected to conduct elections in some wards and units where
the party was popular, saying this had robbed the PDP of vital votes.
The
party alleged that there was concentration of troops and heavy security
presence in urban centres, thereby leaving the rural areas unprotected, saying
this gave room for malpractices in the rural areas.
“There
was concentration of troops and heavy security presence at the urban centres
and metropolis thereby leaving the rural areas unprotected and at the mercy of
the ruling LP whose magnitude of terrorism and brigandage against the rural
voters were unquantifiable.
“It
is regrettable, shameful and disgraceful to our country. It is and will remain
unacceptable to us as a political party and as stakeholders.
“Accordingly,
we reject it and call for a total overhauling of the office of INEC in Ondo
State as well as the state command of the SSS, Police and the entire Army and
Naval operations in the state”.
Bada
also accused the LP of inducing voters with cash pointing that voters were
given money to vote for the party and said, “the LP deployed well over N10bn of
taxpayers’ money to perpetrate itself in office at the detriment of the
beleaguered Ondo people.
“Money
was freely deployed to buy votes at the polling units everywhere especially in
Central and Northern senatorial districts thereby subverting the electoral
process,” he said.
He
noted that some people who were accredited as election monitors and observers
belonged to either the LP or affiliated to those mobilising for Mimiko.
Bada
noted that “the FOMWAN, Ondo State chapter, which only few weeks ago organised
a grand rally to adopt and mobilise Muslims in Ondo State for LP surfaced on
the election day with its same leaders functioning as election observers and
monitors.”
Bada
said the party would take appropriate steps on the results at the right time,
saying the party legal team was still studying the situation.
Also,
the ACN deputy governorship candidate, Dr. Paul Akintelure, has rejected the
outcome of the governorship poll.
He
said the development was an orchestrated plan by the Federal Government in
connivance with the LP to shortchange the people of the state.
He
said: “I want to assure the citizenry that truth will prevail on the outcome of
this election. What happened is a calculated attempt to present ACN as
unpopular in Ondo State, but majority of people know we are on ground.”
The
candidate urged the party’s supporters to remain calm and await further action
from the party.
Meanwhile,
the ACN National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, has said the party will study the
results of the last Saturday election to identify the lapses in the conduct of
the election.
Akande
stated this in a statement made available National Mirror yesterday while
reacting to the election results.
He
said: “As a party of democrats, we in the ACN have always known that the choice
of who governs has always been that of the people in situations where the
electoral process is transparent and credible.
“Therefore,
all politicians worthy of their salt must always expect victory or defeat. We
recognise that it is the sovereign right of the people to decide what kind of
government they want. This is the challenge of democracy.”
But
he said the party will study the results of the election before taking
appropriate action, saying “our party will study carefully the general details
of the results with a view to taking a final position.”