Polling Units
Collation of Votes Continues
10 Local Governments have been collated and announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission. So far, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, flagbearer of the All Progressive Congress has been leading in the polls. The Governor, who is seeking re-election for another four years, recorded 178,854 votes.
Eyitayo Jegede of the People’s Democratic Party won 141,083 votes.
Agboola Ajayi of the Zenith Labour Party has so far emerged with 32,060 votes.
Akeredolu, the incumbent has won 9 Local Governments out of the 10 Local Governments announced by INEC.
INEC to reconvene at 9.00am to complete the collation of results and announce the winner.
Voting Ends in Ondo
Voting has ended in the 18 Local Government areas of Ondo State. While some media reports have shared the numbers garnered per polling unit and have revealed it to the media, they have also reported insights and happenstances of the elections.
Citizen Journalists at different polling units have revealed that the incumbent Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu is slugging it out with his most vocal contender, Eyitayo Jegede of the PDP, while Agboola Ajayi of the Zenith Labour Party struggles to catch up with the race at the Polling Unit. Akeredolu seems to be having an upper hand in the election.
On the flipside, it was revealed that both the All Progressive Congress and the People’s Democratic Party shared the sum of N5000 to N10,000 each to influence voters at the polling booth.
The Independent Electoral Commission reserves the power to reveal the eventual figures and to declare any of the contenders, the winner of the elections. These are the citizen reports
Updates
Candidates Show Popularity at their Polling Units
Mr Agboola Ajayi, the Governorship candidate of the ZLP also won his polling unit– Unit 004, R.C.M, Idumado Quarter, Kiribo Ese Odo Local Government. He beat Rotimi Akeredolu with 395 votes, while Akeredolu won 13 votes. Eyitayo Jegede scored 5 votes.
Meanwhile, Olusegun Mimiko, former Governor of Ondo State reportedly won at his poll–Unit 20, Ward 7, Ondo West Local Government, his polling unit for his party, the Zenith Labour Party. Reports revealed that ZLP won 81 votes while the PDP won unit 31 votes.
Barrister Eyitayo Jegede, the governorship candidate of the PDP won his polling unit at Unit 0, Ward 02, Akure South Local Government. He defeated the incumbent governor, who had 6 votes, and ZLP’s flagbearer with 7 votes.
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu also proved his popularity at his unit, he won with 413 votes at Ijebu 2 Ward 5, Unit 6 at Owo Local Government Area of the State. The PDP had 12 votes while the African Democratic Party had nine votes. The ZLP did not have significant votes at Akeredolu’s ward.
INEC Achieves Elections in Ilaje Despite Boat Mishap
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had earlier informed the public of a boat mishap involving members of INEC staff as well as ballot papers meant for the elections at the Ilaje Local Government Area of the State.
The electoral body informed the public that with the swift intervention of the Nigerian Navy, neither lives nor ballot papers were lost in the incident.
Mr Rufus Akeju, INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner for Ondo State confirmed the incident to the media. He lauded the Navy for their resilience and professionalism.
Elections in the riverine area of Ondo State held as planned by the electoral body.
Early Reports
Electorates in Ondo State will today, Saturday, October 10, 2020, go to polling centres across the 18 local government areas in the state to elect their governor for the next four year.
Despite the Inspector General’s order for the restriction of movement from 12am to 6pm on Saturday, there’s still active movement from Oba-Ile axis of Akure North Local Government to the popular Oba-Adesida part of Akure South Local Government. Aside the vehicles deployed for election duty, taxis, private vehicles as well as commercial motorcycles, popularly known as ‘Okada’ were seen moving about.
Meanwhile, within the Akure metropolis, there is no much presence of security operatives roving through the roads.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had in August published the names of 17 governorship candidates and their running mates with their political parties for today’s poll.
Read Also: Doctors March Against Ondo State Government
However, political observers believe that the battle over who emerges governor of the state is clearly between incumbent Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress, APC; candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Eyitayo Jegede, and Agboola Ajayi, candidate of the Zenith Labour Party, ZLP.
Mr. Ajayi, a former member of the ruling APC and incumbent Deputy Governor, is battling for the state’s number one position with Governor Akeredolu.
There have been reports of violence and killings with continued clashes between supporters of the APC and PDP. Akeredolu of th APC and Eyitayo Jegede of the PDP are the two leading political parties ahead of today’s election.
See Results Per Polling Unit
Femi Morgan and Peace Omenka
Photo Credit: Daily Post