The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been declared winner of the local government chairmanship and councillorship election, which held last Saturday in Ondo State.
The ruling party in the state made a clean sweep of the 18 chairmanship and 202 of the 203 councillorship seats across the state, leaving the remaining one for the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN.
The elections, which witnessed low turnout of voters, was boycotted by the All Progressives Congress, APC, and a host of other political parties.
The APC hailed the electorate in Ondo for heeding its call to stay indoors and not participate in the exercise, which it described as a sham and “mockery of our democracy”.
While announcing the results on Sunday in Akure, the state capital, chairman of the Ondo Independent Electoral Commission, Olugbenga Ige, refused to name the total number of registered voters and those accredited for the election.
Mr. Ige, a Professor, described the poll as “free, fair and credible”, attributing the success recorded by the commission to the cooperation and support given it by all stakeholders in the last three months.
The ODSIEC boss also thanked all the political parties that participated in the elections for playing the game by the rules, saying this allowed the commission to succeed in its task.
Ige said certificates of return would be issued today at ODIEC’s office in Akure.
In its reaction, the APC described the outcome of the elections won by the “unpopular Peoples Democratic Party” as a vindication of its position that the election was a mere selection process.
“The PDP is the only party that fielded candidates in the election and contested against itself”, the party said in a statement signed by its Director of Publicity, Steve Otaloro.
“The party also used deceptive manners to field their party members for some mushroom parties that do not exist in the state.
“Even when it was evident the election is no contest one, they still rigged in huge figures to create the impression of impressive turnout.
“All the names of the chairmen in the eighteen local government councils along with their councillors had been written down and handed over to the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission, (ODIEC) Chairman, Prof. Olugbenga Ige, before the election for eventual announcement after the polls”, the opposition party stated.
The APC said Ondo State voters’ apathy towards the exercise was evidenced in the extremely low turnout of voters across the state.
“In some areas for instance, it was observed that some communities refused to turn out to vote because of several complaints they have against the PDP-led government that culminated in the refusal of the government to intervene in the total darkness that has enveloped their areas for many years”, it said.
“We are glad to see that our (APC) numerous calls for the people to shun the election resonated well with them.
“This local government election in Ondo State has turned out to be a charade and a mockery of our democracy where millions of tax payers’ money was wasted.
“We would however like to reiterate our position to use all legal means to challenge this illegality as perpetuated by the outgoing governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, and that at the appropriate time we shall right the wrong done to the people of Ondo State by committing these present sets of selected chairmen and councillors to appropriation and also conduct a free, fair and credible local government election in the state when the progressives government takes over the rein of leadership in the state next year”.
