On Sunday afternoon, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, was declared the winner of the presidential election in Ekiti State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Presiding Officer, Akeem Lasisi, at the State Collation Centre in Ado-Ekiti.
According to earlier reports by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Tinubu secured a total of 201,486 votes, while his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), garnered 89,554 votes, and Mr Obi of the Labour Party received 11,397 votes, falling short of the 25 per cent requirement in the state.
To emerge as the winner of the presidential election, a candidate must have the highest number of votes cast and score at least 25 per cent of votes in 25 states (two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and Abuja). Ekiti, one of Nigeria’s smallest states by population and land mass, is the first of Nigeria’s 36 states and Abuja to formally declare the final result of the presidential election.
The state is currently governed by the APC through Governor Biodun Oyebanji, and Mr Tinubu enjoys the support of key APC figures such as former governor Kayode Fayemi.
In his address to journalists, Mr Lasisi appreciated the residents of the state for creating a conducive environment for INEC staff during the election. The APC party agent at the collation venue, Sola Arogundade, expressed his satisfaction with the voting exercise and predicted that his party would win in the majority of Nigeria’s 36 states.
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With a total vote cast of 314,472 in this election, Mr Arogundade noted that Ekiti has never produced more than 400,000 votes since the return of democracy in 1999. It is worth noting that one popular PDP politician in Ekiti, ex-Governor Ayo Fayose, is believed to have worked for Mr Tinubu, having joined camps with PDP governors opposed to Atiku.
Prior to the election, Governor Oyebanji had expressed the state’s indebtedness to Mr Tinubu and pledged to repay it with massive votes during the election.
