Ondo LG polls : Commission announces winners

The Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) has announced candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winners of the local government elections conducted in the state on Saturday.

The commission said the APC candidates won the chairmanship, vice chairmanship and councillorship seats in 16 local government areas  while results from the remaining  two LGAs  are pending.

Speaking on Sunday, Dr. Joseph Aremo, Chairman of ODIEC and Chief Returning Officer, confirmed the APC’s victory in all 16 LGAs and the councillorship positions within those areas.

However, the results for Owo and Ondo West LGAs were postponed due to errors on the ballot papers, where the wrong logo for one of the participating parties was printed. These elections were rescheduled for Sunday.

Dr. Aremo stated, “The results for Owo LGA and Ondo West LGA, which were cancelled due to the wrong logo of one of the parties on the ballot papers, will be announced later today at 7:00 p.m.”

The election in Ondo West LGA specifically faced challenges due to the inclusion of the old logo of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) on the ballots, prompting its cancellation.

Recall that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), one of the 13 parties registered for the elections, withdrew 48 hours before polling day. The party cited a lack of confidence in ODIEC’s ability to conduct a free and fair election.

In a statement released on Thursday in Akure, PDP’s Director of Media and Publicity in the state, Mr. Leye Igbagbo, explained, “The withdrawal was because we have no confidence in ODIEC conducting a credible and fair election.”

Other parties that participated in the election included Action Alliance (AA), Labour Party (LP), Action Peoples Party (APP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Boot Party (BP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Young Progressive Party (YPP), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), National Rescue Movement (NRM), and Action Democratic Party (ADP).