ACN sweeps South-West states

The Action Congress of Nigeria has confirmed its emergence as the new dominant political party in the South-West as it won Tuesday’s governorship seats in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States.
It also recorded more than 90 per cent performance in the legislative elections which also held the same day with the three states.
The Peoples Democratic Party had produced five governors in the South-West while the ACN produced one during the 2007 governorship poll. But the PDP later lost Ondo to the Labour Party as well as Ekiti and Osun states to the ACN through the courts.
ACN’s victory in Lagos on Wednesday has put to rest the ‘ political war’ declared on the state by the PDP with the re-election of Governor Babatunde Fashola.
In Ogun and Oyo states, the ACN also made nonsense of the political bravado of PDP chieftains like former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Gbenga Daniel.
ACN’s candidate in the poll, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, floored PDP’s candidate, Maj.-Gen. Adetunji Olurin (retd.) and Peoples Party of Nigeria’s candidate, Mr. Gboyega Isiaka, by scoring 377, 487 votes.
While Olurin, who is Obasanjo’s candidate garnered only 188, 698 votes, Isiaka, who was sponsored by Daniel had 137, 051 votes. Labour Party’s Chief Olajide Awosedo garnered 4, 109 ballots.
At the Independent National Electoral Commission collation centre in Lagos, the Chief Returning Officer, Prof. Bola Akinterinwa, who declared Fashola as the winner, said he scored 1, 509,113, representing 81.03 per cent of the total valid votes cast.
His closest opponent, Dr. Ade Dosumu, came a distant second by polling 300,450 votes, representing 16.13 per cent of the votes cast.
Fourteen other candidates representing different political parties, including the Congress for Progressive Change and the National Advance Party, participated in the poll.
Akinterinwa said having satisfied the requirement of the electoral law Fashola was qualified to rule the state for another four years.
Jubilation broke out among the ACN supporters led by the party agent , Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi , as soon as the professor of international relations declared Fashola the winner of the election.
Afikuyomi said that the massive votes recorded by President Jonathan Goodluck during the April 16 presidential election created tension among the ACN members.
Earlier, Akinterinwa had declared that the ACN won all the 40 seats in the House of Assembly election.
In Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, INEC Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Olaiya Balogun, explained that Amosun did not only score the highest number of votes cast, he also recorded the mandatory 25 per cent total votes cast in two-third of the state.
He said, “The relevant electoral law stipulates that candidate to be declared must certify two conditions. The first condition is 25 percent of total votes cast in two third of the state and the second condition is that he must score the highest votes cast.
“The ACN candidate scored over and above 25 percent in all the 20 local government areas in the state. Amosun having certified the requirement of law and scored the highest number of votes is hereby declared as the winner of the election,” he stated.
Amosun, while speaking with journalists at the INEC premises in Abeokuta, dedicated his victory to God and to the people of Ogun.
The governor-elect, who ran for the same post in 2007 on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party but lost to the outgoing governor, said he had put the experience behind him.
He added that INEC had used his declaration now to right the wrong it allegedly perpetrated during the 2007 election.
The governor-elect, who trekked from the NNPC junction to the INEC office, about 500 metres away, was accompanied by a crowd of party faithful.
In Ekiti, where only the legislative polls took place on Tuesday, the ACN defeated the PDP by winning all three senatorial seats and the six seats at the House of Representatives.

The ACN also won 24 seats in the state House of Assembly, losing only two to the PDP.

The three senators-elect are the former Managing Editor of The News, Mr. Babafemi Ojudu; Mr. Olu Adetumbi; and Chief Tony Adeniyi.
Ojudu scored 67,747 votes to defeat a former governor of the state, Mr. Ayo Fayose, who polled 29,773 ballots.
In Ekiti North, Adetumbi scored 58,568 votes to beat Senator Ayo Arise of the PDP, who scored 38,422 votes.
In Ekiti South Senatorial District, Chief Tony
Adeniyi won with 70,360 votes in Ekiti South to beat incumbent Senator Sola Akinyede of the PDP, who polled
43,537 ballots.
Those who won the House of Representative election include Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, Mr. Bimbo Daramola, Mr. Ife Arowosoge and Mr. Bamidele Faparusi.
Governorship election did not take place in the state because Governor Kayode Fayemi of the ACN is yet to complete his tenure in office.
Fayemi, who thanked the people of the state for voting massively for the ACN said that the victory had further established that the party was fully on ground in the state.
He said, “Ekiti people have shown that they are moving towards the direction of the progressives where other Yoruba states belong. They are also following the train of change which began in Lagos.”
During the April 9 National Assembly elections, the ACN won 13 seats in the Senate out of the 72 seats so far declared, while PDP won 45. It also won 47 seats in the House of Representatives out of 234 seats declared so far.The PDP won 123.
Story by: Francis Falola, Sesan Olufowobi, Segun Olugbile, Femi Makinde, Dayo Oketola and Allwell Okpi.
Courtesy Of: Punch