B Muhammad Sabiu
In the early hours of today (Sunday), the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State emerged triumphant after the results of Saturday’s governorship election indicated that the party’s candidate, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, defeated the 15 other contestants that took part in the race.
Oyebanji, the state’s immediate past Secretary to the Government, won in 15 of the state’s 16 Local Government Areas after receiving 187,057 votes in the election.
His nearest rival, Mr Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party, polled 82,211 votes, while Bisi Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party received 67,457 votes.
Kolawole won his LGA, Efon, with a total of 6,303 votes, beating the APC’s 4,012 votes and the SDP’s 339 votes.
However, Chief Segun Oni, the Social Democratic Party’s candidate, who voted in his home town of Ifaki-Ward Ekiti’s 2, Unit 6, accused the other parties of vote-buying in Ado Ekiti and Oye Ekiti.
He was reported to have said, “I have been told that selling and buying of votes are going on in Ado and Oye. This is not allowed by the law. I want security agents to move in and stop those doing that.”
Vote buying isn’t an unusual practice in the Nigerian political space since the rebirth of democracy in 1999 when former President Olusegun Obasanjo took over power.
