APC clears Ekiti LG poll as PDP boycotts election

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has cleared Saturday’s Ekiti State local government councils poll, winning all the 35 council chairmanship seats and 176 out of the 177 councilorship seats declared.

Justice Jide Aladejana, the Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission, announced the result on Sunday in Ado-Ekiti.

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Aladejana said that the commission had postponed the councilorship election in Erinjiyan ward, following violence that broke out during the poll in the town.

He appreciated security agencies and the staff of the commission as well as the electorate for participating in the poll and for their cooperation in the successful conduct of the election.

The election was held across the 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and the 19 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) as well as the 177 wards of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), boycotted the election, claiming that the APC-led administration in the state was incapable of organising credible, free and fair elections without violence.

Six other political parties, however, participated in the poll.

They included Action Alliance (AA), African Democratic Congress (ADC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), All Progressives Congress (APC), National Rescue Movement (NRM), and Young Progressives Party (YPP).

Speaking on the election, Mr Raphael Adeyanju, the state PDP Publicity Secretary, described it as a sham.

Adeyanju said that the result of the election and the obvious low turnout of voters had confirmed fears by the party that the result had already been predetermined by the ruling APC ahead of the poll.

The spokesperson for PDP also described the conduct of election in the newly created LCDAs as unconstitutional, claiming that since the constitution of Nigeria only recognised the existing sixteen LGAs in the State, the election in the 19 LCDAs was an aberration and a waste of resources. (NAN)