The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the House of Representatives by-election in Ondo State, Ifeoluwa Ehindero, is in an early lead in Saturday’s election conducted for the Akoko NorthEast/NorthWest Federal Constituency of the state.
Some results of the election, conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), have been declared in the polling units and ward collation centers.
The results show that Mr. Ehindero is leading with a total of 16,439 votes in Akoko North East.
INEC announced that no fewer than eight political parties fielded candidates for the Saturday by-election exercise conducted in 329 polling units of the federal constituency.
However, the contest, which is a two-horse race between APC’s Mr. Ehindero and the candidate of the PDP, Olalekan Bada, indicates that Ehindero is coasting to victory, while Bada has scored 7,934 votes out of the results sorted so far by INEC.
Amid tight security, there was a large turnout of voters who trooped out to cast their votes in the election, which was monitored by security agents.
The security agencies, including the Nigeria Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and the Nigeria Army, were manning strategic locations in the two federal councils during the exercise.
Addressing newsmen earlier, the INEC National Commissioner supervising Osun, Ogun, and Ondo State, Prof. Kunle Ajayi, lauded the turnout of voters in the by-election, stressing that the exercise was peaceful.
“From what we have observed since morning, the election is going on peacefully, and the turnout is impressive, with no violence or vote-buying anywhere,” he said.
The by-election in Akoko NorthEast/NorthWest Federal Constituency was conducted to fill the seat vacated by Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the Minister of Interior appointed by President Bola Tinubu.
Before his appointment, Mr. Tunji-Ojo was a former member of the House of Representatives occupying the federal seat at the National Assembly.