THE candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, cruised to a convincing win over his closest rival, Professor Kolapo Olusola of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, in the governorship election held Saturday in Ekiti State.
The results show that the people of Ekiti State are sharply divided along the line of the two leading political parties, with more voters leaning towards the APC, hence Fayemi won with 13,869 votes.
The results announced Sunday morning by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) saw Fayemi winning in 12 out of the 16 local government areas of the state.
The announcement of the results commenced about 3am, and was still on as at 5.30am.
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The APC candidate, a former governor of the state, started coasting to victory early, as he led in many of the results declared at the polling centres not long after voting went under way Saturday.
Though, he won in majority of the local government areas, the victories were by small margins, a situation that had seen the two main candidates running neck and neck as polling closed in the evening and collation of results continued in the local government areas.
Nevertheless, the two major forces in the current political contests in the state, Fayemi and incumbent Governor Ayo Fayose, delivered their respective wards to their parties.
As voting opened, Fayemi, who voted at polling unit 009 in Isan Ekiti Local Government Area, expressed confidence in the electoral process. But Fayose lambasted the security agencies for allegedly supervising vote buying and ballot snatching in some wards in Ado Ekiti and Ikole. Fayose voted at St David’s Anglican Primary School Polling unit 001, where his, party, PDP, polled 304 votes to defeat APC, which had 106 votes.
In his Ward 11 Ogilolo unit 009 in Isan Ekiti, Fayemi’s APC scored 186 votes to beat PDP that polled two votes.
Fayemi voted around 10.45am in company of his wife, members of his household, some of his aides and supporters after queuing for about 10 minutes. The former minister said the process was credible and peaceful, saying the will of the people will prevail.
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“Nigerians decided to choose democracy over dictatorship and that is why all of us must guard this democracy jealously,” he said at the polling station. He, however, lamented the news that the smart card readers were malfunctioning in some areas. The incident was pronounced in Ayede Ekiti, where people complained that their fingerprints were not detected by the machine.
Fayemi said, “It has been seamless, so far. I was accredited and voted seamlessly. But I have heard reports of issues with the card reader from other parts of the state. Largely, we thank God that not much ugly incidents have been recorded.
“With the news we have been gathering around, the process has been okay for now. So, I have faith in this election and I know the people of Ekiti will judge me based on what I did when I presided over this state and what this government is doing. They can see that the difference is clear.
