INEC, PDP Disagree Over Alleged Fraud In Ondo Poll

The re-election of Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has sparked controversy, with the PDP rejecting the results and claiming electoral fraud.

However, the Independent National Electoral Commission disagreed with the PDP on the conduct and outcome of the poll, insisting that it was free, fair and credible.

The electoral commission declared Aiyedatiwa the winner after he secured a total of 366,781 votes, defeating the PDP’s Agboola Ajayi, who garnered 117,845 votes.

Announcing the governor’s victory on Sunday, the State Returning Officer, Prof Olayemi Akinwumi, said, “That Ayedatiwa Lucky Orimisan of APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law, is hereby returned elected.”

Aiyedatiwa swept all 18 Local Government Areas in the state, prompting both criticism and defence from various quarters.

PDP kicks

But reacting to the election outcome, the PDP, through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, described the election as a sham, accusing the APC of engaging in vote-buying, intimidation, and other manipulative tactics to suppress voters’ will.

Ologunagba stated, “This election witnessed widespread election merchandising, monetization, and barefaced vote buying by the APC. This reprehensible practice threatens Nigeria’s democracy and must be addressed if our democratic system is to survive.

“This devious practice by the APC was rampant and pervasive because the APC have utterly impoverished Nigerians and turned poverty into a weapon of mass subjugation which enabled it to manipulate the election and its outcome.’’

The party called on Nigerians and the international community to investigate the election, insisting it fell short of the standards of a free, fair, and credible process. The party announced plans for a detailed review of the election and pledged to take steps to protect democracy.

“We call the attention of all Nigerians and the International Community to this reprehensible practice by the APC as widely witnessed in Ondo State, and we demand that serious action be taken to stem such if Nigeria’s democracy must survive. In the meantime, the National Working Committee of the PDP will be having a more detailed review of the election outcome and taking appropriate action in the defence of our democracy,” he further stated.

In his reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said the Ondo governorship poll was ‘one of the best ever conducted’’ by the commission.

He stated, “The timetable and schedule of activities were released one year ahead, and 13 activities were listed. Each activity from the beginning to the end was meticulously executed. And in doing so, we carried all political parties along. In fact, INEC met with political parties four times in the course of the year where all critical issues concerning the election were discussed. The PDP never complained about anything at these meetings.

“Besides, the PDP was given the opportunity to nominate their polling units and collation agents, which they did.  And in the just concluded election, INEC achieved two main feats: 97 per cent of the 3933 polling units in the state were opened by 8.30am, while 100 per cent were opened by 10am. This points to the meticulous planning and follow-up we did with transport providers, which worked excellently.”

Oyekanmi praised the functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System which he put at over 98 per cent, adding that by 7pm on election day, 92 per cent of the results had been uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing portal.

‘’The only complaint by the PDP a few weeks to the Election Day, was an allegation of bias against our Resident Electoral Commissioner for Ondo State. But there was no single proof to substantiate the allegation. The Commission thus ignored the party’s demand for her removal,’’ he noted.

Reacting to the allegations, APC’s National Publicity Director, Bala Ibrahim, dismissed the PDP’s claims as baseless and habitual.

He said, “If there’s a natural disaster in Nigeria, the PDP will blame it on the APC. They fail to understand that Nigerians are more conscious of their votes now and have rejected the PDP’s 16 years of mismanagement. Why is it that the PDP only praises INEC when they win?”

Ibrahim emphasised that the significant margin of victory—over 200,000 votes—was a clear indication of Aiyedatiwa’s popularity and dismissed any suggestion of manipulation.

The Labour Party’s candidate, Ayodele Olorunfemi, expressed frustration over his loss and blamed his party’s internal conflicts and the influence of Peter Obi, the former LP presidential candidate, for his poor performance.

Olorunfemi alleged that party leaders, including former Nigeria Labour Congress president, Abduwaheed Omar, sabotaged his campaign.

Olorunfemi claimed his reinstatement on the ballot just days before the election by a Court of Appeal ruling left him with insufficient time to campaign effectively.

He also accused Obi’s ally, Olusola Ebiseni, of forging documents to undermine his candidacy.

But the acting chairman of the NLC Political Commission, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, dismissed Olorunfemi’s accusations, alleging that he had been involved in financial deals over the party’s ticket.

Vote-buying allegations

The African Democratic Congress candidate, Myson Nejo, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party candidate, Gbenga Edema, decried the widespread vote-buying during the election. Nejo revealed that votes were sold for as much as N20,000 in some polling units.

Nejo said, “The reaction of the people? I thank the good people of Ondo Street for voting for me without giving them any money, and they still voted for me. I want to believe that my vote is a valid vote because there was nothing like vote-buying or any unethical practices on my side. So far, I want to believe I’m a winner in this election.”

Edema blamed the vote-buying culture for the deliberate impoverishment of the masses by those in power, making them susceptible to financial inducements during elections.

He lamented, “I refused to buy votes, and that cost me the election. But I am satisfied with my integrity.”

Dr Abass Mimiko of the Zenith Labour Party acknowledged the reality of vote-buying and stated that the electorate’s choice must be respected, regardless of how votes were secured.

The leadership of the Labour Party also condemned the outcome of Ondo governorship election, alleging that it was fraught with irregularities, vote-buying and intimidation of voters.

This was disclosed by the National Legal Adviser of LP, Kehinde Edun, in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH.

“This idea of giving the votes to the highest bidder is so unfortunate. Most of the time, you will observe how the party in power attempts to buy off everybody. That is also what the governor did. He has the federal apparatus available to him also,” Edun said.

“They have so much money to spend. That was what happened here. We saw a similar situation in Edo. It is unfortunate that our people are still going into elections with this mindset. The usual saying is that all parties are the same. Why don’t I just collect what I can collect from them now? But it is not always true. We cannot continue this way.

“But we will continue to educate our people not give in to vote-buying. We know ow there is so much hunger in the land and it is so tempting for them not to collect money for votes. Again, we learnt they have people stationed nearby monitoring them. If they collect and fail to vote for them, there will be repercussion. The electorate knows this too. So, it is difficult to resist the temptation in the face of hunger.”

Meanwhile, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Sylvester Alabi, disclosed that three individuals were arrested for attempting to snatch ballot boxes during the election.

He denied reports of vote buying under police supervision and urged the public to provide evidence of electoral malpractice to enable law enforcement action.

He said, “I am aware that there was somebody who was arrested by DSS, and up till now he has not been handed over to us for proper investigation, that’s all I can say about that.

“There was an attempt to snatch ballot box in Idanre and three people were arrested with regard to that. Currently, they are under investigation, and the outcome of the investigation will be reviewed by the public.”

On the reported vote buying, Alabi said no such incident was reported to the police.

He noted, “There is nowhere vote will be traded in the presence of police officers without them responding promptly to arrest those who are involved because it’s one of their mandates. Whoever submitted that report should come up with proof.

“To the best of my knowledge, nobody reported votes being traded in the presence of police officers. I can confirm to you authoritatively. Nothing of that happened to the best of my knowledge because nobody reported that to us at any of our police formations. So, I expect that those who saw them doing that should have taken a step further to report to the officer in charge of that area so that arrest can be made.”

Gov denies vote-trading

However, Aiyedatiwa denied knowledge of vote-buying by APC agents assigned to polling units in the state.

He also ruled out the speculation about a growing feud between him and the PDP candidate, Agboola Ajayi, following the rejection of the poll outcome by the opposition party.