After hours of collation and computation of votes, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, winner of the gubernatorial election after polling highest votes during the exercise in the state.
Aiyedatiwa, who contested the poll on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), polled 366,718 votes as against the former deputy governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Agboola Ajayi, who had 117,845 votes to come second.
The State Returning Officer, Prof Olayemi Akinwumi, who presented the final results of the elections, on Sunday, said Ayedatiwa scored the majority of the valid votes at the poll and he subsequently returned him elected.
He said, “I, Professor Olayemi Durotimi Akinwunmi, hereby certify that I am the Returning Officer for the 2024 Ondo State governorship election held on the 16th November, 2024.
“That Ayedatiwa Lucky Orimisan of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and governor-elect.”
The Returning Officer noted that the total valid votes in the election stood at 497,077; rejected votes were 11,886, while the total votes cast were 508,963.
Before the last set of election results from the Ilaje, EseOdo, and Odigbo LGs were presented, Ayedatiwa had won in 15 council areas.
Recall that the State Returning Officer, who is also the Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi State, formally opened the state collation exercise around 12:10 am on Sunday and received results from some LGs.
In the results of the 13 LGs earlier announced, Ayedatiwa won in all, including Idanre LG where the PDP’s governorship running mate, Mr Festus Akingbaso, hails from. The APC got 14,157 to defeat PDP which polled 5,897 votes.
A PDP agent, Olaniyi Ogungbuji, however, alleged that there was no voting in Ofosun Oniseri. He said PDP agents were chased away by hoodlums, urging INEC to expunge figures of the area from the final result. He also alleged a case of ballot snatching at the Alade unit.
Prof. Akinwumi, after the results of the 13th LG, said the collation would resume by 5 am when the results of the last 5 LGs would be released.
Upon resumption of the collation, poll results from the Okitipupa LG were presented, where the APC got 26,811 votes to beat the PDP, which polled 10,233.
In Akure North LGA, APC polled 14451 votes, while PDP got 5787.
When the collation centre reopened at noon on Sunday, results of Odigbo, Ilaje, and Ese Odo LGs were presented, where the APC swept through.
Before the final declaration of the results, all party agents present, including the PDP, signed the result sheet and each got a copy of the result.
