The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Biodun Oyebanji has emerged winner of the Ekiti Governorship election that was held in the state on Saturday.
Oyebanji, who is the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, won in 15 out of the 16 Local Government Areas of the state, with 187,057 votes.
However, his closest challenger, Mr Segun Oni, of the Social Democratic Party, scored 82,211 votes while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bisi Kolawole, scored 67,457 votes.
Kolawole won his LGA, Efon, where he scored 6,303 to beat APC’s 4,012 and SDP’s 339 votes.
Meanwhile, the election was marred with vote buying as the APC was accused of vote buying.
In a video that went viral, operatives of the Economic Financial and Crimes Commission (EFCC) were seen to have apprehend those selling and buying votes as some delegates and voters were caught with cash.
Also, the Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo, admitted that the APC was involved in vote-buying.
In his statement on Twitter, the minister, however, said the ruling party isn’t alone in the act.
“Incidences of vote-buying can’t be synonymous only with the ruling party, but the subtle message the other parties try to pass to the gullible is that only the ruling party engages in illegalities & that the only way an election can be deemed credible is if the ruling party loses,” Keyamo lamented.
Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged INEC to prosecute all those involved in vote-buying in the Ekiti State governorship election.
The group was reacting to the arrest of some people by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (INEC) for alleged involvement in vote-buying during the election.
In a series of tweets on its Twitter handle, SERAP charged the commission to bring all politicians and their agents involved in vote-buying and other unethical conducts during the election to book.
It wrote: “BREAKING: #EkitiDecides2022: We’re suing to compel INEC to prosecute anyone suspected to be responsible for vote-buying and electoral bribery in Ekiti State and the politicians who sent them.”
