BREAKING: APC's Aiyedatiwa declared winner of Ondo governorship election

The incumbent governor won by a landslide, emerging victorious in all 18 LGAs.

Ondo State Governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has been announced winner of the state’s gubernatorial election held on Saturday.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Aiyedatiwa’s victory after he won all 18 local government areas of the state.

According to the State Returning Officer, Prof Olayemi Akinwumi, APC’s Aiyedatiwa garnered a total of 366,781 votes to defeat his closest rival, PDP’s Agboola Ajayi, who polled 117,845 votes.

“That Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa of the APC having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” the returning officer said at the INEC collation centre in the state capital, Akure.

Aiyedatiwa -a former deputy governor- became Ondo state governor after the death of former governor, Rotimi Akeredolu on December 27, 2023.

In the build-up to the 2024 polls, he unsurprisingly clinched APC's ticket.

After casting his vote on Saturday, Aiyedatiwa expressed optimism citing the works he had done in his 10 months as governor.

“I believe I’m in an advantaged position to win this election because of the work that I have done in the last 10 months since I assumed office as the governor of the state,” he said.

“We traversed the entire 18 local governments; and visited communities all across.”

Meanwhile, PDP's Agboola accused INEC of conducting "a very shameful exercise", while also calling for the commission's chairman, Prof Yakubu Mahmood's resignation.

“The system is compromised and I have had a series of calls today. People are complaining about vote buying and the BVAS is not working,” he said on Saturday after voting.

“It is a very shameful exercise and I think Nigerians should just call on the chairman of the electoral commission Prof Mahmood Yakubu. If you cannot do the job, please just honourably resign. He should resign. This is embarrassing. It [election] is totally compromised.”

---