The All Progress Congress in Ekiti State has faulted the local government elections held in the state on Saturday, saying it was fraudulent.
The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said in a statement that there was apathy for the election across the state, adding that it was proof that people of the state had rejected the governor and his party, the PDP.
“To cover their shame in most of the empty polling units, PDP members and Fayose’s political appointees engaged in multiple thumb-printing to give a false impression of a large turn-out of voters,” Olatunbosun said.
The APC, which withdrew from the election after complaining that the process was comprised, said the people behaved honourably by staying away from the election, which was boycotted by all political parties except the PDP.
The Peoples Democratic Party had gone on to clear all the chairmanship seats for the 16 local government areas and councillorship positions for the 177 wards in the state.
The Chairman, Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission, Justice Kayode Bamisile, who spoke after the declaration of results, said 25 SIEC chairmen observed the election.
“There was no case of ballot snatching, violent conduct or hooliganism during the election,” he said.
The state secretary of the SIEC, Mrs. Bolanle Awe, told our correspondent that the commission was prepared for any legal tussle that may arise from the election.
She added that despite some initial challenges, the conduct of the election was largely successful.
The APC had tried to stop the polls in court, alleging that members of SIEC were also members of the PDP, but a High Court in the state had dismissed a suit it filed in its bid to stop the election.
Our correspondent observed that despite claims by SIEC that five political parties participated in the election, only agents of the PDP were seen in virtually all of the polling units visited.
Reacting, Governor Ayodele Fayose, described the polls as free, fair and credible, while also lauding the voters for turning out massively to cast their votes.
Fayose said, “The information we got was impressive. The turnout was impressive. In some places, the turnout of voters was very impressive, though some people came out late in some areas.”
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