Update on the Ekiti Rerun Election: Segun Oni (PDP) declared Winner !

I'm not a PDP supporter, but am 90% sure that the mantle would still remain with Oni. I foresee cruel actions in Ekiti immediately the result is made public. Whoever wins the election, yawa go still gas.

http://www.compassnews.net/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16210:oni-now-leads-fayemi-by-over-10000-votes&catid=46:sunday&Itemid=186


Oni now leads Fayemi by over 10,000 votes


Gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the rerun election in Ekiti State, Engineer Segun Oni, on Saturday outshone his opponent and candidate,  of the Action Congress (AC), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, when he recorded close to 30,000 votes.

Oni's 30,000 votes is over 10,000 more than that of Fayemi in both the rerun and initial election, which had those of six local government areas ratified.

Oni's strongest performance was in his local government area, Ido Osi, where he defeated Fayemi with more than 20,000 votes.

The former governor won in six local government areas while Fayemi took three.

The last of the 10 local government areas where the Court of Appeal ordered the rerun election, Oye, had the election there postponed till Sunday (today) because of unfavourable security reports. Oni won in Ijero, Ekiti East, Ekiti West, Ekiti South West, Ikole and Ido Osi while Fayemi won in Irepodun/Ifelodun, Ise Orun and Gbonyin.

It was gathered that the unfavourable security report that led to the postponement of the election in Oye was based on the fear that the insistence of Fayemi to visit the ward of Senator Ayo Arise could lead to a breach of the peace.

Both of them are from the same local government area. In Ijero, reports late last night had it that the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was burnt by a mob suspected to be loyal to the AC.

The mob reportedly came to Ijero from Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

This followed the arrest of some suspected thugs allegedly loyal to the AC.

A former governor of the state reportedly coordinated the attack and burning of the INEC office.

The INEC supervisor for Ido Osi Local Government Area, Alhaji Kuta, was also attacked while collating the results.

A senior member of the state House of Assembly allegedly led the assault on Kuta.

The Ekiti State acting Governor, Rt. Hon. Olatunji Odeyemi, arrested suspected thugs with charms at Ise Ekiti in Ise/Orun Local Government Area.

They were reportedly 'imported' into the state to disrupt the election from Lagos, Ikare Akoko in Ondo State and Isan Ekiti, Fayemi's country home.

Odeyemi handed over the suspected thugs, made up of both men and women, to the operatives of the State Security Service (SSS).

They had ballot boxes in their possession at the time of their arrest.

There are fears that the election in Oye Local Government Area will not hold after all today based on a threat by Fayemi that he could not guarantee the safety of supporters of the PDP during the election.

Over 50 suspected thugs were arrested across the state during the election.

In Ifaki Ekiti, four AC members were caught with prepared results of the yet-to-be-concluded election in the 10 local government areas of the state.

They have been detained at the Ifaki police station.

At Ise Ekiti, a former Senator, Lawrence Agunbiade, who is an AC leader in the area, incurred the wrath of the people of his community for allegedly flouting the electoral law restricting movement during the election.

Agunbiade claimed he left his house to assess the preparation of his party for the election.

He was with his Personal Assistant, Femi Ekundayo, when he was attacked.

But another AC chieftain from the area, Dr. Oluwole Olugboji, said the senator went out in search of fuel when he was attacked.

Oni voted at 9.50 am at Ifaki II, Ward 04, unit 006, Ogbon Iro Town Hall where he expressed optimism that he would win the election.

The Nigerian Compass was at the Ilao Quarters of the former governor where his 95-year-old mum, Mrs. Comfort Aina Oni, could not go out to vote but was seen praying, clutching her Bible.

Meanwhile, two people who identified themselves as Jerry Dosunmu and Muiz from the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) were allegedly manhandled for their inability to provide their identification cards on request by the security agents.

The Nigerian Compass team was also at Usi Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Government Area where the former Minister of Aviation, Prof. Babalola Borisade, complained that the voter register brought to the town did not tally with the ones pasted in three out of 16 units.

A police chopper was sighted hovering over the town at about 10.40a.m.In Ekiti South West Local Government Area of the state, Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, was sighted driving round the town in his Range Rover with Lagos State registration number, RX 906 KJA, with youths waiting to cast their votes raising questions concerning his mission despite the restriction on movement.

Commenting on the conduct of the election, Deputy Inspector General of Police, John Ahmadu, denied the arrest of Arise, adding that the election in Oye Local Government Area was postponed because the atmosphere became hostile.

He said the police apprehended 61 persons for violence.

Ahmadu further explained that 36 persons were arrested in connection with the violence in Oye-Ekiti, with incriminating materials such as charms, bottles of alcohol and other dangerous weapons and another 25 suspected thugs arrested in other parts of the state.

The DIG said the police are "battle ready" for the postponed voting in Oye-Ekiti.

At Ilawe-Ekiti, the home of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ambassador Dare Bejide, located along the INEC Area Office was bombed with material suspected to be explosives on Friday night.

Voting was peaceful in Ward 11 in Ilawe-Ekiti in Ekiti West Local Government Area when the Nigerian Compass visited the town.

At Unit 004, Ward C, Igede-Ekiti in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area, Mrs. Florence Odetola, an observer with the Justice and Peace Development Commission (JDPC), described the election as peaceful and commended the security arrangement in the area.

http://www.compassnews.net/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16280:ekiti-rerun-despite-ac-disruption-oni-still-leads-fayemi&catid=43:news&Itemid=63



Ekiti rerun: Despite AC disruption, Oni still leads Fayemi



ARMED political thugs yesterday seized Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, as the result of the Court of Appeal-ordered governorship rerun continued to stream,  in from the remaining four local government areas where the exercise was conducted.

Results of five councils - Gbonyin, Ekiti South-West, Ise-Orun, Ijero and Irepodun/Ifelodun - had been released and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr. Segun Oni, is leading his Action Congress (AC) counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

That of Oye Local Government Area, where Fayemi hails from, is billed to hold this morning after it was disrupted on Saturday and yesterday by suspected AC thugs.

The belief is that Oye, being a PDP stronghold, will be won by Oni.

In the result declared so far, Oni is leading Fayemi with over 5,000 votes.

But the AC has kicked against it.

It was gathered that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was billed to announce the overall result of the nine councils yesterday, but suspected AC thugs took over some popular streets in Ado-Ekiti before they were dislodged by the police.

Many of the thugs were believed to have been brought to the troubled state from the Niger Delta region by a militant leader, who the PDP accused of being contracted by the AC to supply 20,000 thugs to it to disrupt the election.

They invaded the popular Fajuyi Park where they harassed many people, especially those suspected to be members of Oni’s administration.

Oni’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Segun Ilori, was one of the unlucky people, as his Toyota Camry car vandalised.

Ilori said yesterday: “While I was on my way to Ado, I escaped death from thugs at Fajuyi Park. My car was vandalised and was to be burnt, but for my driver’s fast move. All the policemen looked on as this happened. My driver recognised the man who hit my car with iron rod and other weapons. The evidence is in the Government House.”

The election in Oye was shifted to this morning as announced by the electoral umpire’s spokesperson, Mrs Olubunmi Popoola.

But the state chapter of the PDP yesterday blamed alleged threats to the lives of INEC officials by suspected AC thugs for the cancellation.

A statement by the Chairman, Media and Publicity Committee of the Segun Oni Campaign Organisation (SOCO), Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said that some leading members of the AC mobilised thugs to the council to hold the officials hostage for hours, describing the action as unbecoming of individuals who lay claim to leadership.

The statement reads in part: “We wish to call on security agencies in the country to come to the aid of the peace-loving people of Ekiti, who are now being held hostage by a group of power-hungry politicians who would stop at nothing to achieve their inordinate ambition.

“The thugs were part of the thousands of miscreants imported into the state to prosecute their evil plan of unleashing terror on the people so that INEC would cancel the election in many of the wards.

“It was this desperation that led to the burning of INEC offices in Ijero and Ido/Osi Local Governments by thugs and the incursion of mercenary voters from Aiyede and Isan into Oye-Ekiti on Saturday.

“We, therefore, call for the immediate arrest of these people and their thugs, who appear to have taken over from the police and other security agencies in the state.

“Power belongs to God and He gives it to His chosen ones.

“Now that all their efforts appeared to have failed, they are planning to set the state on fire, but we appeal that they shelve this plan in the interest of the downtrodden people of Ekiti, who would be left in the cold after they must have abandoned the state as they did when they lost election in 2003.”

Meanwhile, the AC has rejected the result of the rerun at Ido-Osi Local Government, describing it as an “unimaginatively fabricated result”.

A statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the result, which gave the PDP 15,939 votes against AC’s 3,793, “is the most improbable result and could only have been made possible by sheer cooking of figures.”

Mohammed said: “After collation of results from five local governments (Gboyin, Ekiti South-West, Irepodun-Ifelodun, Ise-Orun and Ijero), on Saturday, the AC had 15,026 and the PDP 15,420 votes, without counting AC’s existing credit of 11,000 votes.

“Realising the PDP’s deficiency with results from just four local governments remaining, the collation was suspended till Sunday. Overnight, however, the cooked results - said to have been collated in a police station without AC’s agents in attendance - surfaced, with the PDP winning 15,939 in just one local government!

“That result simply cannot stand: First, it shows that the PDP, in collusion with INEC, simply worked from answer to question, having realised there is no way the PDP could catch up with the AC. Secondly is the improbability of the figure from one local government alone more than all the total votes scored by the PDP in all the five local governments whose results were collated on Saturday!!!”

Ekiti AC also alleged that the Presidency was planning to impose Oni on the state despite the inconclusiveness of the election.

The party said it had uncovered a plan in which the Presidency would ensure that the disputed nine wards in Ido/Osi Local Government Area would be counted in favour of the PDP.

Addressing a press conference in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, the state Chairman of the party, Chief Jide Awe, enjoined Nigerians to prevail on INEC not to accept figures from the disputed wards where violence disrupted the collation of results.

Revealing that the crisis that led to the burning down of the INEC office in Ido/Osi was prompted by the attempt to substitute the votes being collated with the ones already thumb-printed in “Ghana must go” bags allegedly brought by PDP loyalists, Awe insisted that the three wards already collated before the violence should be admitted and the rest cancelled.

Disclosing that three policemen on duty at the INEC office were fatally wounded by bullets, a situation he said made people to scamper for safety, the chairman noted that some civilians were also wounded, while the leg of one of the injured was amputated at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ido-Ekiti, yesterday.

In a related development, the leadership of the PDP also yesterday called for the cancellation of the election conducted in Egbe/Iro ward in Gbonyin Local Government, alleging that its supporters were disenfranchised by the opposition.

While addressing a press conference, the party’s spokesman, Lekan Adekanmbi, said elections were not conducted in the ward and appealed to INEC to give the people the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right by ordering a fresh election.

Adekanmbi noted that the situation did not conform with the order of the Court of Appeal that the rerun be conducted in all the 63 wards, which, he said, must be obeyed to the letter.

He stated that the complaint from the supporters of the PDP from the area necessitated the position of the party.

The party also made case for a fresh election in Igbemo ward in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government, where it said the AC used thugs to molest its supporters.

He, however, promised that the party would agree with the outcome of the rerun.

Besides, the PDP also told the AC to stop issuing threats against the nation’s democracy over the rerun.

It described as unpatriotic, a statement issued by the Lagos State Chapter of the AC yesterday in which it threatened that the nation’s democracy would collapse unless its candidate won the rerun.

The National Vice-Chairman (South-West) of the PDP, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, said the AC’s statement was an unfortunate one from a political party, which laid claims to democratic credentials.

The PDP stressed that “no one or political party is greater or stronger than the Nigerian state. No group of people should always believe it could hold the nation to ransom.

“The AC should by now, as a matter of fact, cover its face in shame for the forgery of a police report in Osun State which was uncovered by the Inspector-General of Police last week. Instead of doing this and apologise to the nation, it is compounding its problems by threatening the nation.”

It was gathered yesterday that the chairman of a council in Lagos State (names withheld), who was one of those arrested in Ekiti State on Saturday for alleged thuggery and illegal possession of firearms, and another man who allegedly brought a prepared election results from Lagos, have been transferred to the Force Headquarters, Abuja.

The council boss was arrested with 13 suspected AC thugs in Are-Ekiti, Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

Dangerous weapons, including guns, axes, machetes and charms were allegedly found on them.

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, who relocated to Ado-Ekiti yesterday to personally supervise the Oye-Ekiti polls, has ordered the arrest of the Acting Speaker, Saliu Adeoti, for allegedly leading the people who torched the INEC office in Ido-Osi on Saturday night.

Okiro warned that “anyone who has no business in Oye-Ekiti should stay away” from the rerun today. He visited all the troubled areas in Ado-Ekiti yesterday.

Meanwhile, there was drama at the INEC office yesterday when the result of the election in four councils was about to be released.

Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, insisted that INEC should not conduct the election in Oye-Ekiti. Falana drew attention to Section 31 of the Electoral Act 2006 which provides that the commission was bound to give a 14-day notice to all parties “that a bye-election has been slated.”

He was however booed by PDP members who said that a rerun is different from a bye-election.

INEC National Commissioner, Adedeji Soyebi, countered him, saying there was no way an individual would hold hold the commission to ransom and take a unilateral decision on the matter.

“This cannot be one person’s decision to take,” he said.

The PDP members insisted that the result must be announced.

The Director of Communication and Strategy, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, said that AC members unleashed terror on PDP supporters in Oye with a view to ensuring the cancellation of the polls in the local government.

He alleged that AC leaders housed their mercenaries in Aiyede Ekiti and Isan-Ekiti, Fayemi’s hometown, “with a bid to transport them to vote in the Oye rerun.”

He pleaded with security agents and INEC officials to ensure that the Oye polls is free and fair.

“We want to plead with security agencies to ensure that the plans of the AC to rig and scare away our supporters is nipped in the bud”.

The party urged security agencies to investigate an incident in Ifaki where a certain AC chieftain was caught with a prepared result of the yet-to-be concluded election.

The party noted that the AC member, who came to the state from Lagos, was apprehended by a Squadron Commander, Sam Erhale, in a Mercedes Benz Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) with registration number BR 611 AAA.

I have heard of rising tension at Ado now and even reports of gun shots, any confirmation?

Neither has Fayemi been declared the winner.

Results so far in six (6) no-rerun LGAs: Fayemi - 37,714, Oni - 30,036
Ado-Ekiti, state capital under siege. Ekiti Youth & Students Groups declare: announce Segun Oni and get roasted.

http://twitter.com/ekitirr.

The Broom Revolution is About Starting.