“My immediate reaction is to reject the result in its entirety because, in my view, the exercise conducted yesterday was not credible. You all witnessed what happened, particularly in some polling units, including mine, where the atmosphere was almost like a war zone…”
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Dare Bejide, on Sunday rejected the outcome of Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State.
The INEC Chief Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Adenike Oladiji, had, in the early hours of Sunday, declared Governor Biodun Oyebanji the winner of the election.
She said Mr Oyebanji polled 319,224 votes to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Wole Oluyede, who finished a distant second with 40,543 votes.
She stated that Mr Bejide scored 12,872 votes to finish third in the election, which candidates from 14 political parties contested.
However, in his immediate reaction to the result, the ADC candidate said that the election lacked credibility, adding that the atmosphere during the poll was like a war and vote trading was the order of the day.
“My immediate reaction is to reject the result in its entirety because, in my view, the exercise conducted yesterday was not credible. You all witnessed what happened, particularly in some polling units, including mine, where the atmosphere was almost like a war zone.”
“Political appointees, alongside a serving senator, allegedly brought in thugs as well as both fake and genuine policemen. In some places, it appeared as though the election was taking place only in my polling unit. It is a sad day for democracy.”
“Vote-buying was carried out openly. Bags of money were brought to polling units, and from what we observed, enormous sums were spent. To me, this reflects a failure by the government. If they had performed well, there would have been no need to rely on money to influence voters. They should have depended on their achievements to win the election rather than openly buying votes.”
“We drew the attention of security personnel to what was happening, yet no meaningful action was taken. That is quite unfortunate and raises serious concerns about the state of our democracy,” he said.
Regarding his next line of action, Mr Bejide, who said he had not seen the full results, stated that members of the party would meet and decide what to do.
“As for our next line of action, I have not personally seen the full results yet; I have only heard reports on social media. We are currently collating the results available to us. Once we have received and analysed all the polling unit results, we will brief our party members and decide on the appropriate course of action. At this stage, we are certainly not satisfied with the conduct of the election.”
“Our agents collected copies of the results at the state collation centre, but we are still gathering polling unit results. From the few we have reviewed, we have observed cases of over-voting, alterations and other irregularities. Many disturbing things occurred during the process. When our analysis is completed, we will determine the next steps,” he said.
The ADC candidate confirmed he received a call from Mr Oyebanji requesting a visit, but he was busy and therefore did not allow the governor to come at that time.
“Yes, Governor Biodun Oyebanji called me today. He said he wanted to visit. I told him I was occupied at the time and asked if we could speak later. He said he would call back. He is my brother and not a stranger to me. In fact, he began his political journey from this house in 1996. So whenever he comes, I will listen to what he has to say,” he said.
Mr Bejide asked the party’s supporters to remain calm, saying that the electoral issues were not over.
“My message to our supporters is simple: remain calm because it is not over yet. The announced result does not, in our view, reflect what actually transpired. We worked extremely hard during this campaign. We travelled across the state, visited artisans, market women, pensioners and communities. Everywhere we went, people expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the government and indicated their support for our cause.”
“That is why we believe the outcome announced does not reflect the reality on the ground. You can see that there is no jubilation anywhere. The mood across the state is one of sadness because many people feel something has gone terribly wrong.”
“Some people said before the election that the ADC had no structure and no pathway to victory. My response is simple: if we were not a force to reckon with, why was there such widespread vote-buying? If they were confident in their popularity and achievements, they should have allowed democracy to take its natural course and defeated us at the ballot box.”
“We campaigned vigorously. We went from house to house and met artisans, barbers, traders, market women, and church congregations. We presented our vision and offered what we believed was a better alternative for Ekiti State. While we were engaging directly with the people, others appeared confident that the resources they had amassed would be enough to influence the outcome on election day.”
“Sadly, money meant for roads, water, infrastructure and development was allegedly deployed to buy votes and compromise the conscience of the people.”
“My appeal to the people of Ekiti and our supporters is to remain peaceful and calm. We are carefully studying the results. Once that process is completed, we will know the appropriate steps to take. For now, I urge everyone to be patient and law-abiding,” he said.
