Amid protest by the Accord Party (AP) candidate, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, Governor Abiola Ajimobi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared winner of Oyo State governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday.
With the victory, Ajimobi becomes the first governor to be re-elected in the 39-year-old state.
He defeated Ladoja, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala of the Labour Party (LP), Senator Teslim Folarin of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Seyi Makinde of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
APC also won 18 seats in the House of Assembly with AP winning eight seats while LP won six.
Returning Officer in the state, Prof. Ayobami Salami, said Ajimobi polled 327,310 to beat Ladoja, who polled 254,520 votes.
Alao-Akala came third with 184,111 votes, Folarin got 79,019 while Makinde had 54,740.
The state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Rufus Akeju, urged other candidates in the race to accept the result in good faith.
He implored them to emulate President Goodluck Jonathan who conceded defeat to the President-elect, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).
He said: “The results show the beauty of democracy because they were products of a peaceful election. It is my duty to offer appreciation to the stakeholders such as the security agencies who ensured peace during the elections. The voters have spoken, so there is no point in blaming anybody. We must praise voters for coming out to cast their votes.
“My regret is that not everybody could get their Permanent Voter Cards. It is a teething problem that will be addressed. It is our plan to take our country to international acceptability in terms of fairness. Don’t blame anybody for your loss; the losers should be gallantry in defeat. The winner should be
humble because every beginning has an end.
Below is the full result:
AFIJIO
Accord-4,590
APC-5,087
LP-3,743
PDP-1,735
SDP-433
SAKI EAST
Accord-2,955
APC-4,746
LP-3,078
PDP-1,598
SDP-928
EGBEDA
Accord-1,5811
APC-13,495
LP-2,097
PDP-2,625
SDP-2,625
OORELOPE
Accord-3,802
APC-4,730
LP-6,255
PDP-1,452
SDP-572
KAJOLA
Accord-2,827
APC-13,436
LP-3,544
PDP-6,123
SDP-1,205
ATISBO
Accord-3,257
APC-7,132
LP-2,862
PDP-2,339
SDP-1,156
IBARAPA CENTRAL
Accord-5,921
APC-5,084
LP-2,187
PDP-3,201
SDP-826
ATIBA
Accord-3,734
APC-10,396
LP-7,656
PDP-1,396
SDP-587
ONA ARA
Accord-8,887
APC-7,434
LP-1,592
PDP-2,512
SDP-891
IBARAPA NORTH
Accord-4,509
APC-5,317
LP-3,317
PDP-3,373
SDP-776
AKINYELE
Accord-4,509
APC-5, 317
LP-3,842
PDP-3,373
SDP-776
OLUYOLE
Accord-10,535
APC-11,903
LP-1,542
PDP-1,953
SDP-1,687
IWAJOWA
Accord-2,980
APC-7,990
LP-1,478
PDP-4,198
SDP-719
ISEYIN
Accord-8,410
APC-19,547
LP-4,136
PDP-1,663
SDP-1,504
OGBOMOSO SOUTH
Accord-2,097
APC-3,571
LP-19,351
PDP-1,647
SDP-224
ITESIWAJU
Accord-1,404
APC-5,661
LP-2,805
PDP-4,773
SDP-822
IBADAN NORTH WEST
Accord-9,826
APC-12,491
LP-4,413
PDP-2,164
SDP-3,959
IDO
Accord-8,194
APC-10,912
LP-2,856
PDP-1,724
SDP-1,292
OYO WEST
Accord-5,865
APC-10,337
LP-3,771
PDP-1,416
SDP-690
OYO EAST
Accord-8,472
APC-10,037
LP-2,765
PDP-1,393
SDP-785
IBADAN SOUTH EAST
Accord-16,460
APC-16,411
LP-5,335
PDP-2,937
SDP-2,150
LAGELU
Accord-10,787
APC-10,286
LP-1,601
PDP-1,776
SDP-1,076
ORIIRE
Accord-3,836
APC-7,014
LP-9,543
PDP-3,978
SDP-2,815
OGO OLUWA
Accord-3,169
APC-5,012
LP-5,974
PDP-848
SDP-377
OLORUNSOGO
Accord-3,284
APC-4,471
LP-3,527
PDP-434
SDP-176
IBARAPA EAST
Accord-5,383
APC-6,963
LP-1738
PDP-2,497
SDP-3,021
SAKI WEST
Accord-7,702
APC-13,093
LP-8,368
PDP-3,782
SDP-1,259
IREPO
Accord-4,770
APC-6,448
LP-2,389
PDP-494
SDP-1,754
SURULERE
Accord-4,052
APC-5,284
LP-9,675
PDP-2,575
SDP-676.
But Ladoja rejected the result, citing election malpractices.
The Accord Party’s agent, Nureni Adisa, refused to sign the result sheet, saying that the party would seek avenues to challenge the results.
He said: “My party has decided not to sign the election result because we believe that the result does not reflect the true position of Saturday’s election. There were widespread malpractices, allocation of votes and all manner of electoral fraud. At the appropriate time, we will let the public know the step we are taking.
“We have our men on the field who informed us how votes were allocated. We have been saying it long before now that the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Rufus Akeju, is partial. We knew he was a partial umpire after the presidential election and we wrote a petition to Abuja that he should be changed. We have checked the results submitted by our party agents and found out that they were not the same with what the INEC announced”.