The current Governor and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu has been re-elected as Governor of Ondo State as he won the October 9, 2020 gubernatorial election in Ondo.
The incumbent governor, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, swept to victory winning 15 of the 18 local governments, while Jegede won three.
Akerdolu defeated his major contenders the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr Eyitayo Jegede, and Hon Agboola Ajayi of the Zenith Labour Party, ZLP, with about ninty-nine thousand (99), votes in 15 Local Governments Areas in the state.
Akeredolu promised to provide composed and focused leadership marked by economic growth and improved security for people in the state.
Based on the votes secured, the Chief Returning Officer for the election, Professor Idowu Olayinka, returned Akeredolu as the governor-elect at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Akure, which doubles as the final collation centre.
With his victory Akeredolu will be serving Ondo state for the second time, having been elected in 2016 for the first time.
He secured 244,842 votes in 2016, defeating his closest rivalry Mr. Jegede who garnered 150,380 votes.
“Having satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the highest number of votes, I hereby declare Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu of the APC as the winner, and he is hereby returned elected,” Professor Olayinka declared said.
Residents of the state came out on Saturday, across 3,009 polling units of 203 electoral wards/ registration areas in the 18 Local Government Areas (LGA) of the state, to choose their leader for the next four years.
The poll, the second major election to be conducted since the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, was preceded by a dramatic campaign featuring 17 political parties and their candidates, all racing for the top political office in the south-western state.
Governor Akeredolu’s first tenure as governor will expire on February 23, 2021, with victory in the bag, he is on course to govern the state for another four years.
In the coming hours and days, it is expected that the opposition parties in their state will make their position on the outcome of the election known.
Under the Nigerian Constitution, the outcome of a governorship can be contested at the Election Petitions Tribunal and should aggrieved parties be dissatisfied, they can proceed to the Court of Appeal.
Any party who is still not satisfied with the decision of the appellate court is at liberty to approach the Supreme Court, which has the final say.
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