The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, as the winner of the April 11 election.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Jimi Agbaje, came second. Out of the 20 local government areas of the state, Ambode won in 15 while Agbaje won in 5. Figures by INEC showed that Ambode polled 811,994 votes to Agbaje’s 659,788 votes, a difference of 152,206 votes.
Agbaje and the PDP have however reacted to the results differently. While its candidate has called the winner of the election and congratulated him, the PDP has rejected the polls, demanding for the cancellation of the entire process citing massive irregularities.
In a statement addressed to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, the party said that card readers were not used in many local governments, which it construed to mean that accreditation was not done in those areas.
Part of the statement read, “Our candidates have brought to our attention that contrary to electoral rules and guidelines, the newly introduced card readers were not used in the following local governments: Epe, Babagry, Mushin, Ikorodu Eti Osa, Alimosho, Ikeja, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos Island and some parts of other local governments.”
The PDP contended that this “amounted to no proper accreditation of voters and a denouncement of the sanctity of the voting process.”
It alleged further that “there were numerous complaints of front and uploading of the card readers with fictitious names before commencement of accreditation in areas where card readers were used such as Lagos Island, Ikorodu, Kosofe, Lagos Mainland and Badagry.”
The party therefore demanded a halt in the collation and announcement of results for Lagos State.