By Bilesanmi Abayomi
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has been declared the winner of Saturday’s gubernatorial elections, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The returning officer, Prof. Adenike Oladiji of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, announced that Sanwo-Olu, representing the All Progressives Congress (APC), won with a total of 762,134 votes. His closest rival, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party, received 312,329 votes, while the candidate for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Abdul-Azeez Adediran, received 62,449 votes.
Oladiji also revealed that there were other political parties involved in the election, including A (800), AA (904), AAC (627), ADC (6,078), ADP (2,833), APM (884), APP (259), BP (616), NNPP (1,583), NRM (340), SDP (1,746), YPP (461), and ZLP (1,635).
The total number of registered voters was 7,060,195, with 1,182,620 accredited voters. The total vote cast was 1,173,631, with a total valid vote of 1,155,678 and rejected votes at 17,953.
Oladiji declared Sanwo-Olu the winner after he satisfied the requirements of the law by scoring 25 percent in two-thirds of the local government areas in the state and also scoring the highest number of votes cast. However, the agents of the LP and PDP were not present to sign the results.
The APC won in 19 local government areas of the state, while the LP won in one LGA, and the PDP did not win in any.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, dismissed allegations of manipulation levelled against him, saying that such allegations were not strange in the country. He also decried the poor turnout of voters.
Lagos State Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Mr Olusegun Mobolaji, decried the pockets of violence, vote buying, and apathy experienced in some parts of the state. He called on the candidates to accept the outcome of the elections in good faith and urged INEC to improve on the shortcomings in future elections.
However, before leaving the collation centre, Pastor Dayo Ekong, Lagos State Chairman of the LP and the party’s State Collation Agent, called for the cancellation of the elections, citing high levels of violence, attacks, ballot box snatching, disruption, disenfranchisement, and killing in some cases. Meanwhile, the APC’s State Collation Agent, Mr Fouad Oki, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the poll, describing the ruling party’s victory as democracy at work.