By 
APC; In the Ogun State governorship election held on March 18, 2023, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, the state returning officer for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), pronounced the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate the victor.
Ladi Adebutu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 262,383 votes, and Biyi Otegbeye of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), who received 94,754 votes and is supported by former governor and current APC senator Ibikunle Amosun, were Abiodun’s closest competitors.
Adebowale proclaimed Abiodun Adedapo Oluseun of the APC the winner and returned the result, saying that he had complied with all legal procedures.
On Saturday, elections for governor were held in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states. A court case compelled INEC to bring the gubernatorial and state assembly elections forward, which resulted in them taking place a week later than originally planned.
Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun, and Ondo are eight of the 36 states that have “off-season” governorship elections because of legal disputes and court rulings.
Odeda, Egbado-North, Egbado-South, Ewekoro, Ijebu-North, Ijebu-Ode, Ipokia, and Abeokuta-North were all won by the APC. The state’s Ado-Odo/Ota, Ifo, Obafemi-Owode, and Imeko-Afon local governments.
Ijebu-North/East, Ikenne, Ijebu-East, Remo-North, Odogbolu, and Sagamu were all won by the PDP.
The Accord Party received 724 votes, followed by Action Alliance with 382 votes, African Action Congress with 2613, Action Democratic Congress with 94,753 votes, Action Democratic Party with 2770 votes, Allied People Movement with 2066 votes, Action Peoples Party with 207 votes, New Nigeria Peoples Party with 1394 votes, National Rescue Movement with 779 votes, Peoples Redemption Party with 248 votes, and Social Democratic Party with 515 votes.
In the meantime, PDP collation agent Sunkanmi Oyejide warned the electoral umpire against pronouncing Abiodun the election’s victor before the results were made public.
Oyejide recommended that the INEC take into account a provision in the Electoral Act (amended) that directs the commission to declare a rerun if the total number of ballots rejected exceeds the lead margin.
This was brought up shortly after Prof. Oluwagboyega Afolabi, the Sagamu collation officer, gave the political parties in the council their scores.
According to Afolabi, the violence that occurred during the governorship election on Saturday forced the cancellation of 15 polling places.
The 28 states that held governorship elections on March 18 are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.
17 outgoing governors, who were inaugurated on May 29, 2015, are in the final weeks of their constitutional two-term limits of eight years, while 11 serving governors, including Abiodun, sought reelection.
However, the PDP agent objected to continued submission of a copy of the findings.
Oyejide petitioned the commission to investigate after claiming that there were 33,750 voters in Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Ikenne, Ijebu-North, and Ogun Waterside.
He also mentioned the petition his party has for the commission.
“The electoral act 2022, Section 24 Sub-Section 3 says where an election has begun and there is reason to believe that there is or has been substantial destruction of election in a polling unit or constituency or it is impossible to continue with the election, occasioned by the threat to peace and security of electoral officials and materials,” Yejide stated when voicing the objection.
“Electoral authorities and materials in the example of Remo, where BVAS did not function and I reasoned it out, should be highlighted. The election will be put on hold by the commission, which will then set a new date for it to resume.
“Second, if we apply the lead-of-margin principle spelled forth in the Electoral Act of 2022, the number of votes that were rejected is significantly more than the lead-of-margin.
“This is only to inform you that the election will be inconclusive and a rerun should be scheduled where necessary after you are finished with your final collation and what happened is found to be true.”
The petition was sent to Mahmood Yakubu, the national chairman of INEC, and a copy was received by our correspondent. It was headlined “Petition against purposeful disenfranchisement of a significant number of voters in several local governments of Ogun State,” and it was dated March 18, 2023.
“We write to remind your authority of the aforementioned concern,” the petition reads.
“You will remember that the Commission is aware of the level of thuggery planned and orchestrated by the All Progressive Congress to unleash mayhem in some polling units across the state to destabilize innocent voters from freely exercising their voting rights as a result of well-planned and executed action,” the statement continued.
