The Coalition of Accredited INEC Election Observers held post election press briefing on Monday, November 18th 2024 at the Royal Bird Resort, Alagbaka, Akure, Ondo State to report on their experiences and encounters before, during and after the election in the Sun shine state.
The group of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accredited election observers led by Engr. Muhammad Al-Jameel Hashidu, a seasoned a internationally accredited election observer with decades of experience in election monitoring with Dr. Isaac Iduma as the Secretary has 45 of the 115 accredited observers for the Ondo Election by INEC.
The engagement with several media houses fielded questions on several matters including statutory operational guidelines as outlined by the Electoral Act 2022.
Engr. Hashidu gave INEC a pass mark for a well conducted electoral process without hitch or glitches as INEC staff were at their polling units well before time. In most places visited, voting started at exactly 8.30am as people were already present on queue.
In various areas of the state observed including Odigbo, Idanre, Owo, Arigidi, Ikare, Ajowa, Ondo town and other places, voters were enthusiastic to cast their civic responsibility.
However, of the 17 registered political parties for the governorship election, only the two leading parties had Polling Unit Agents across all Polling units, all other party’s agents weren’t found at the polling units.
The level of security was top notch as security men were fully on ground and they did a good job to calm nerves where they arose and ensure orderliness of voters on queue, even though, as early as 7.00am, vehicular movements had been restricted.
The group commends the various stakeholders that contributed to the success of the election across board and wish the peace experienced here would be the experience in all other elections.
One of the politicians encountered during our review, Hon. Sylvester Olumuyiwa Adu attributed the peaceful election as the wish of God for the good people of Ondo State. He said, “the state is blessed with so much resources and needs everyone’s contribution to achieve the great potentials available here. I am happy the election went well and people participated fully”
The coalition of INEC Accredited Election Observers after reviewing the election results collated across the 3,933 polling units, the 203 wards and 18 local government areas of the state and announced by the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Lokoja and INEC Returning Officer, Professor Olayemi Akinwunmi, the group hereby pass a vote of confidence on the election conducted by the INEC which declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Mr. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa who garnered 366,781 votes against the major opponent, Mr. Agboola Ajayi of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 117,845 votes.
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