By Kemi Kasumu, General Editor
The All Progressives Congress Candidate, Dr Kayode Fayemi, is coasting home to victory in the keenly contested 2018 Ekiti State governorship election on Saturday July 14.
This is according to the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission in majority of the 16 local councils in the state.
It has now become clear whose boast was actually far away from empty as Fayemi, who was governor of the state between 2010 and 2014, won no fewer than 13 of the 16 Local Government Areas including the Irepodun Ifelodun Local Government of incumbent Ayodele Fayose.
It will be recalled that Governor Fayose who had earlier on Saturday claimed that he was 80 percent in charge of Ekiti and, despite what his unsubstantiated allegation of security hijack of the process, had said that “I will still win today’s election and I am winning already”.
His anointed People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Olusola Eleka, although had itches being accredited earlier in the morning of the election day but was cleared later and allowed to vote, had like many other stakeholders including foreign and local observers, media men, party leaders, members and voters commended the free, fair, well secured and peaceful conduct at the election, which outcome now appears to be the poetic justice with the APC candidate beating the main man, Fayose, at base.
In Irepodun Ifelodun Local Government that is Fayose’s home base, Fayemi polled 13,869 votes to defeat the PDP candidate and Fayose’s current deputy, Olusola Eleka, settling for 11,456 votes.
In the 2014 election, massively rigged by Fayose’s PDP powered by the Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government with an alleged $35 million, Fayemi lost all the Ekiti councils to Fayose.
This time around, Fayemi only lost in Fayose’s polling unit and ward. However, the votes in other wards were not enough to secure victory for Fayose’s party and candidate in the local government.
The Local Government has 11 wards. Results from each ward were collated at the headquarters of INEC situated in Igede. Out of 66,162 registered voters in the council 27,306 were accredited.
INEC headquarters in Ado-Ekiti is compiling all the results from the local councils and the official announcement will be made later on Sunday.
According to reports from Local Government collation centers, Fayemi also won in Oye LGA, Ileje Meje, Ido-Osi, Gbonyin and Moba.
However, he narrowly lost Ado-Ekiti, where Fayose doled out a minimum of N4,000 each to would-be-voters on Friday, a claim that was confirmed during Saturday’s election by a former deputy governor of the state (names withheld) who said the financial influence was started by Governor Ayodele Fayose, who posted government money to the bank accounts of all civil servants, local government staff “including myself and my wife”.
