November 18, (THEWILL) – The Local Government Election that took place across the 20 local government areas and 237 wards of Ogun State on Saturday, November 16, has returned the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, to control of the grassroots in the state as it won the 20 Local Government Chairmanship seats and the 236 Councillorship wards’ positions to defeat 19 political parties that participated in the November 16, 2024 Local Government election in the state.
OGSIEC’s Chairman, Mr Babatunde Osibodu, while making the announcement of the results known on Sunday, at the Commission’s headquarters in Oke-Ilewo, Abeokuta, said that with a total of 613,156 votes cast, APC emerged victorious at the poll.
Also, in Zamfara State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recorded a landslide victory in the just-concluded Zamfara State local government election, winning all fourteen chairmanship seats and securing every councillorship position.
The Chairman of Zamfara State Independent Electoral Commission (ZASIEC) Bala Aliyu announced the results on Sunday morning.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the collation exercise in Gusau, the Commission’s chairman said that PDP candidates had emerged victorious across all LGAs, including Gusau, Kaura-Namoda, Maru, Talata Mafara, and Anka, among others.
Unlike in Zamfara where the election was comparatively peaceful, Ogun witnessed some hiccups.
Before polling closed on Saturday, the PDP and LP faulted the voting process and expressed doubts about fairness. The LP called on the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission to cancel the poll, citing alleged massive rigging, delays in the arrival of materials, and violence against its agents and members.
At a press conference held in Abeokuta, the party’s State Legal Adviser, Mr. Oluwafemi Ibiayo, described the election as a “complete charade” and demanded that OGSIEC declare the exercise null and void.
He warned that failure to fix a new date for fresh elections would compel the party to protest or challenge the results in court.
“We are calling on OGSIEC to cancel the election. It must be cancelled and a new date fixed. Otherwise, we will lead a protest. This election is null and void, and the process was a complete sham,” Ibiayo stated.
He further alleged that voters were disenfranchised due to the late arrival of electoral materials, stressing that the party would not recognise or give credibility to any results announced by OGSIEC.
Similarly, the State Chairman of the party, Engr. Lookman Jagun, accused OGSIEC of colluding with Governor Dapo Abiodun to rig the election in favour of the ruling APC.
He said, “OGSIEC, in connivance with the governor, rigged the election for the APC. No election took place in the state. Our supporters were beaten and chased away from polling units by thugs loyal to the APC.”
“If OGSIEC fails to cancel this election, we will reject any results and take the matter to court,” he added.
Jagun also criticised the state government for what he termed “undemocratic tactics” to undermine the opposition, adding that the APC’s actions had disgraced Ogun State’s reputation as the Gateway State.
“The governor had boasted that the opposition was invincible and that APC would sweep the polls. Today’s exercise was a demonstration of their crude and barbaric approach to governance,” he lamented.
On its part, the PDP also questioned the credibility of the election due to the late distribution of materials.
Our correspondent observed that election officials were still collecting materials from the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) office in Abeokuta, the state capital as at 7:32 am, just minutes before the scheduled 8 am starting time.
Speaking with Journalists, the PDP state agent, Waliu Oladipupo, expressed worries about the development, stating that this irregularity could undermine the integrity of the electoral process.
Oladipupo stressed that the shortcomings will disenfranchise many voters.
He said “Imagine somebody that is going to Ogun waterside do you think they will get to their destination on time having slated the election for 8:am. I doubt the credibility of the election.”
“We want the time to be extended so that voters can vote. Secondly, they should ensure that the results are declared at the polling units.”
“From the ward collation centre down to the local government collation centre, they should declare the party that actually wins”, he added.
In his response, Governor Dapo Abiodun had boasted that the APC, which is in power, will win by a landslide in each of the state’s 20 LGAs, given the performance of his administration over the last five years and the calibre of the candidates the party was fielding.
The results proved the governor right and proved Lookman wrong. According to OGSIEC chairman, Babatunde Osibodu, APC clinched…
Indeed, the election followed a similar pattern in all the states that have conducted local government elections recently. The governing party always sweeps the poll, leaving nothing for the other participating parties.
What is left now is to see if the opposition would make good their pre-election threat to take to the streets in protest against the poll, if it fails to be free and fair. LP’s state publicity secretary, Tokunbo Peters, who stated that the party’s collation agents would be present in all polling units to ensure that the results declared by OGSIEC tallied with what was declared at the polling units, disclosed that if the announced results were contrary, the party would mobilise its supporters to protest the results.
Speaking on the party’s preparedness to participate in the elections, he stated that a grassroots campaign has been taken to all 20 local government areas of the state.
He said, “The Labour Party in the state is fully prepared for this election. We have collation agents that would be at the wards and local government and we would insist they give us the result sheet immediately; they count the votes at the polling unit and if the result declared is different from what was declared at the polling unit we are going to protest. Aside from going to court, we are going to call on our supporters to protest the result.”
Peters stated that the APC had “failed both the state and nation at large” and that they were sleeping instead of campaigning and were unable to rally support.
For the chairman of the Inter Party Advisory Council, IPAC, and state chairman of the Action Alliance, AA, Abayomi Sanyaolu, who reaffirmed the party’s preparedness, he said that OGSIEC had pledged a free and fair election and would hold them by their word.
