Fayose ‘in clear lead’ in Ekiti governorship poll

Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Ekiti State governorship election, Ayodele Fayose, is clearly ahead of others in the results so far collated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

This has sparked wild jubilation in Ado-Ekiti — where votes constitute approximately one-third of total votes cast — as well as several other parts of the state.

Although INEC is yet to formally announce the results, a highly-placed source privy to the commission’s unannounced results told TheCable that the former governor is far ahead of the incumbent, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

“From the official INEC figures, Ayodele Fayose is currently leading by a comfortable margin,” the source said.

“But I cannot say anything more than that. Until INEC has announced this result, I cannot say anything.”

Unofficial results monitored by TheCable showed Fayose to be leading Fayemi, his closest challenger and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in most of the wards.

“You will be shocked that people are already dancing on the streets even though the figures in circulation are not from INEC,” a resident of Ikole, one of the many wards believed to have been won by Fayose, told TheCable.

INEC’s conduct of the election has been roundly commended by observers.

Executive director of Spaces for Change, Victoria Ohaeri, praised INEC for early arrival of voting materials in the parts of the state monitored by her team.

“Accreditation of voters started to time in all the local governments we monitored, because polling materials arrived early enough,” she said.

“Although there was heavy presence of security officials, no one was harassed. Voting also went on peacefully in all the local governments we monitored.”

Similarly, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, president of Women Arise, praised INEC for the improvement on its last election.

“INEC must not, however, rest on its oars, but should do more to attain perfection in handling the nation’s electoral process,” she told NAN.

“After the Osun election, we have a bigger challenge which is the 2015 general elections. We expect the best from the commission.”

Mr. Samson Itodo, head of research, policy and advocacy at Youth Action Initiative África, said that to a large extent, INEC succeeded in addressing the logistic problems usually associated with the conduct of elections.

Collation of results from all 119 polling units across the state is ongoing, and INEC will announce the results at the end of the process, which will be late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

“If the official result isn’t announced late in the night, then it will be very early tomorrow morning,” the source who spoke on the official INEC result said.