Ekiti 2018: APC’s Fayemi floors PDP’s Olusola in the epic electoral contest
Sam Nwaoko, Ado Ekiti Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Ekiti governorship election, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has been declared winner of the election conducted on Saturday.
The Chief Returning Officer of the election and Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka, announced the final results of the election on Sunday morning at a ceremony at the Secretariat of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Ado Ekiti.
Professor Olayinka announced that Dr Fayemi of the APC polled a total of 197,459 to defeat his closest rival in the electoral contest, Professor Kolapo Olubunmi Olusola of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored a total of 178,121 votes.
The INEC Chief Returning Officer said: “I Professor Idowu Olayinka, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan and the State Returning Officer of Ekiti 2018 governorship election declare that having satisfied the constitutional provision of having the highest votes and 25 per cent in two-thirds of the local governments, Dr John Kayode Fayemi of APC is hereby declared winner and returned elected.”
Following the declaration, the APC agent and other party supporters at the venue jubilated in excitement and in the din, the various party agents signed the INEC documents validating the results of the election and took their respective copies of the documents.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Ekiti State, Professor AbdulGaniy Raji, who spoke after the final results were announced, described the feat of the conduct of the election as one to be thankful for, saying it was a relief.
He said he had nothing to say other than to thank monarchs, community leaders and the entire people of Ekiti State, whom he described as “wonderful” in their conduct, for their roles in the overall success he said INEC achieved in the election.
Professor Raji while reacting to some of the shortcomings reported in the conduct of the election, said the shortcomings were “part of politics, it is nothing new and it happens almost everywhere and so, that’s not new.
“However, when you look at the election, even though there are skirmishes here and there and they were some little issues, but if you are talking of just 10 polling units out of 2,451, that is very very insignificant.
“The people of Ekiti have shown that they are very good people and mature people. The election was keenly contested and we are happy that we kept to our promise and they have also kept to their promise.”
The REC, while explaining what could be done about the non-existence of polling units in numerous new areas, especially in Ado Ekiti, for which many had to trek long distances to be able to cast their ballot, on Saturday, said: “that is a constitutional matter and it is being attended to.”
On the election day, the Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Most Reverend Felix Ajakaye, while waiting on the queue to cast his vote, had lamented the pace of the function of the card readers and had joined others to call for the increase in the number of polling units as people lamented their long walk to the polling units.
How APC, PDP finished in the race in the LGAs
LGA APC PDP
Ilejemeje 4,153 3,937
Ijero 14,192 11,077
Irepodun/Ifelodun 13,869 11,456
Ido-Osi 12,342 11,145
Oye 14,995 11,271
Gbonyin 11,498 8,027
Efon 5,028 5, 192
Moba 11,837 8, 520
Emure 7, 048 7, 121
Ikere 11, 515 17, 183
Ekiti West 12, 648 10, 137
Ikole 14, 522 13, 961
Ise-Orun 11, 908 6, 297
Ekiti East 12, 778 11, 564
Ekiti South-West 11, 015 8, 423
Ado Ekiti 28, 111 32, 810
Take away from the election.
The election was unique in the sense that for the first time since the creation of Ekiti State, PDP lost elections in areas seen as traditional PDP strongholds in Ekiti State.
Some observers noted that the party lost the election for the first time in communities such as Ido in Ido/Osi Local Government; Ode in Gbonyin Local Government; Okemesi in Ekiti West Local Government and in some other communities in the state.
The PDP lost Ido/Osi Local Government, Gbonyin Local Government, Ekiti West Local Government and Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government, the home council area of Governor Ayodele Fayose, against expectations.
The publicity secretary of the PDP in the state, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, attributed the loss of those areas to the what he referred to as “massive vote buying,” stating that “this was the case not just in the PDP strongholds, but in all the areas where where we lost the election.”
But some other analysts believe that the PDP lost in those areas because of factors they traced to the loss of important members of the party in such areas to the opposition APC.
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“PDP lost in Ido because Governor Fayose fell out with Cyril Fasuyi, who is a string member of the community; PDP lost in Oye because the party lost an important member like Senator Ayo Arise; PDP lost in Ise-Ekiti because a man like Adedayo Adeyeye left the party.
Whether we like it or not, PDP could have performed far better than we did in Ikere-Ekiti if the governor had not had issues with the Olukere of Ikere.
“Yes there are electoral infractions here and there in the overall conduct of the election, but the major factor, as far as I’m concerned is the many big wigs which we lost in the run up to the election. I do not see anything wrong in keeping the Olukere close to us and courting him, when we had realised that he is an influential factor in the town,” member of the party who didn’t wish to be named stated.
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