2024 Ondo Election: What Ganduje, Sanwo-Olu, others say about Aiyedatiwa’s victory

The National Chairperson of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, and the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, have congratulated Lucky Aiyedatiwa on his emergence as the winner of the 2024 Ondo State governorship election.

The duo spoke after the incumbent governor was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday.

Mr Aiyedatiwa polled 366,781 votes to defeat the former Deputy Governor of Ondo, Agboola Ajayi, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 117,845.

The election took place across 3,933 polling units in the state’s 18 local government areas.

According to INEC, over 1.7 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were collected, representing 85.6 per cent of the state’s 2.05 million registered voters.

Congratulatory message

The APC national chairperson, Mr Ganduje, described Mr Aiyedatiwa’s victory as “democracy in action” and a “moment of joy.”

He said the governor was a “sellable candidate” and that “there will be sustainability of projects” in Ondo.

On his part, the Lagos governor, Mr Sanwo-Olu, expressed gratitude to God, Ondo residents and President Bola Tinubu for the APC’s victory in the election.

He said that the electorates supported Mr Aiyedatiwa because he was diligent.

Ade Adetimehin, the APC chairperson in Ondo, who spoke on Arise TV after the announcement of Mr Aiyedatiwa’s victory, described the election as “peaceful, seamless and smooth.”

He thanked INEC and security agencies for contributing to the success of the election.

“Expect performance,” he said to Ondo residents. “The governor is a goal-getter.”

Vote buying

On allegations of vote buying by the APC, Mr Adetimehin said, “These are unfounded allegations. Nobody induced anybody.”

He said the APC won because the “party is well loved and the governor is well loved.”

He said those “complaining” about the election are not “democrats,” adding that the election is “one of the best by INEC” because there was no violence.

He, however, acknowledged that there were some hitches, such as the “malfunction of machines” during voting.

Meanwhile, incidents of voter inducement were reported in some areas despite heavy security measures.

On Saturday, operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) arrested a suspected vote buyer during the election at Ward 4, Polling Unit 007, outside St Stephen’s Primary School in Akure, the state capital.

The unidentified suspect was arrested with two bags of money, apparently meant for the inducement of voters.

There were also isolated cases of violence.

The supervising national commissioner of INEC for the election, Kunle Ajayi, confirmed that violent clashes erupted in the Idanre area of the state.

“We had some violent cases in Idanre,” Mr Ajayi, a professor, said during an interview on Channels TV, adding that with “two forces in the same town, ordinarily you would expect some tension.”

“Automatically, the town will be divided, some supporting the APC chairman, some supporting the PDP governorship candidate,” he added.

The APC eventually won in Idanre.

APC’s win

The victory marks Mr Aiyedatiwa’s first governorship win, having assumed office on 27 December 2023, following the death of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, whom he served under as deputy governor.

Mr Ajayi of the PDP was Mr Aiyedatiwa’s predecessor as deputy governor under Mr Akeredolu but a rift between the two led to his replacement with Mr Aiyedatiwa in 2020.

Mr Aiyedatiwa on Saturday had expressed confidence that he was in a vantage position to win the election shortly after casting his vote at Polling Unit 005 Ward 04 in Obenla Community.

The governor said that he would win the election because of his performance in the last 10 months.

“I am at an advantage to win because of the work I have done in the last 10 months. I was the only candidate that covered the entire state. I felt the people, I listened to them and the people were excited at my appearance. I believe they will translate the love to vote today,” Mr Aiyedatiwa said.