#OndoDecides Polling Units Open As Ondo Elects Next Governor

1.6 million registered voters in Ondo state will head to polling units on Saturday as the state elects Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s successor. There was some concern as violence among rival party supporters broke out in Akure, the state capital on Friday.

The leading candidates in the election are, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede of the Peoples Democratic Party; Chief Rotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress; Dr. Olu Agunloye of the Social Democratic Party and Olusola Oke of the Alliance for Democracy.

Mr. Eyitayo Jegede was named the PDP candidate on Thursday after an appeal court ruled that Jimoh Ibrahim was not the legitimate PDP candidate.

26,000 policemen and 15,000 personnel from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps have been deployed in the state to maintain law and order along with some army officers. Despite the presence of security agents, Governor Mimiko has alleged that the APC plans to rig the elections,

“INEC did not release the list of voter’s register to the PDP until yesterday (Thursday), in clear infraction of its own laws and against its advertised timetable and schedule of activities for the Ondo State election. INEC refused to publish Eyitayo Jegede’s name for 30 days as stipulated in Section 34 of the Electoral Act 2010.

“INEC denied Eyitayo Jegede the right to submit his party agents’ list at least seven days before the election, as stipulated in Section 45 of the Electoral Act 2010, among many others. As we speak, collation tags for ward collation officers are not available for PDP ward agents.

“More than the above, the agents on INEC’s list are agents submitted by a man already aptly described by the courts as an impostor, who has also openly showed he is working as a fifth columnist in the Ondo State election. We were expected to run a race with our hands tied behind our back while INEC also goes ahead to foist a ‘wuruwuru to the answer’ result.”