Ekiti poll: Segun Oni kicks, rejects results
The Social Democratic Party, SDP, Governorship Candidate, Engr Segun Oni, yesterday rejected the outcome of the Ekiti State governorship election won by Mr Abiodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Spokesman of the Segun Oni Campaign Organization, Mr Moses Jolayemi, in a chat with Vanguard, accused the APC of engaging in vote-buying and security agencies of compromise during the election, adding the SDP candidate will not concede defeat, and the party will meet to take necessary steps.
Oni kicked as the APC taunted the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which came third in the election of being rejected by Nigerians just as Oyebanji urged opposition political parties that participated in the exercise to join hands with him to develop the state.
Congratulatory messages, however, continued to pour in for the governor-elect as President Muhammadu Buhari, the South-West Governors’ Forum and National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, among others, said Oyebanji’s victory was well-deserved, considering his contributions to the development of the state and the party before his nomination as the standard-bearer.
They also urged him to be magnanimous in victory in the interest of the people of the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared Oyebanji, winner of poll, after polling 187,057 votes to defeat the candidates of the SDP, Mr. Segun Oni (82,211 votes) and the PDP, Mr Bisi Kolawole, who scored 67,457 votes.
Oni won’t concede — Campaign spokesman
Jolayemi said: “The outcome is unacceptable to us as a party because it is a travesty of democracy; it is a rape on democracy and clear daylight robbery. The APC has taken advantage of the peoples’ pathetic state of poverty, and that is why the APC refused to campaign. They were not going round doing rallies; we were the ones campaigning because they knew what they wanted to do.
“Their strategy was simple: buy these peoples’ votes and that is why they kept the people in perpetual poverty so that they can be of use every four years.
“They know that it is difficult for someone who is very hungry to resist cash. Some of them have children that are of voting age; some have four children plus their wife and themselves. “If you multiply N5000 by six, it gives you N30,000, which is a huge amount to these people.
“The security agencies compromised. The ‘see and buy thing’ was going on while the security agencies looked the other way.
INEC is also culpable because the arrangement of the polling booth and the ballot boxes was awkward. You wonder why this should be so. The election may appear free but it was not fair.
“It was not free of violence anyway because the third thing they did was to make use of their thugs.
“We have videos of some of their thugs snatching ballot boxes. What did the security agents do, they looked the other way.”
Asked if the SDP will be approaching the tribunal to seek redress, he said: “The decision will be taken in the next few hours. We are going to meet but the central message here is that this election is rejected. Segun Oni is not accepting the results, he is not conceding and he is not congratulating anybody because this is not an election.”
PDP’s distant third position shows Nigerians have rejected them — APC
The APC described the dismal performance of the opposition PDP in the election as an indication that Nigerians have rejected self-serving partisans who make up the PDP.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Felix Morka, the APC said Nigerians are not deceived by PDP’s claim of being on a rescue mission of the country.
“Unsurprisingly, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party finished a distant third position in the just-concluded election. Despite its claim to a self-serving and self-assigned rescue mission of Nigeria, the people of Ekiti State and, by extension, Nigerians are not, in any way, deceived by the ceaseless propaganda of a desperate party that only seeks a return to power to continue its ruinous escapades.
While it thanked Ekiti people for reaffirming their confidence in her by rallying round the Governor-Elect, Biodun Oyebanji, APC said without a doubt, “the well-deserved victory is an eloquent testimony of the acceptance of our party under the visionary leadership of President Buhari, the sagacity of our National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and the uncommon commitment of other members of the National Working Committee, NWC, of our great Party.”
Let’s build Ekiti together, Oyebanji urges opposition
Oyebanji, in his acceptance speech at his Ikogosi-Ekiti country home, thanked Ekiti people for offering him the chance to lead them, and lauded those who competed with him for accepting the outcome of the election.
The governor-elect also appreciated those who did not to vote for him, promising to earn their trust and cooperation as time goes on.
His words: “We recognise all those who did not vote for us, but whose participation in this important democratic ritual of the election enriched the process, especially with the gracious manner in which you accepted the outcome, and helped maintain the peace during and after the exercise.
“We are hopeful that though we did not have your votes at this time, we would earn your trust and cooperation as we begin the journey of keeping Ekiti working.
Keeping Ekiti working
“We are grateful for the privilege you have given to us to bear your sacred mandate at this crucial time in history. We recognise that on October 16, 2022 when by the grace of God we would be inaugurated into office, we are expected to immediately start to build on the legacies of those who came before us, and honourably govern our state in trust for the generations coming after us.
“It is a duty we campaigned for, and accept with all solemnity and responsibility. In keeping with our covenant with you, we will work together with you, to keep Ekiti working.” Vanguard
