The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won all the 332 contested positions in the Saturday local council elections in Imo State. It also cleared all the positions in Kwara.
But the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara and the ruling APC took varying stands on the results declared by the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC).
Announcing the result at the headquarters of Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISEC), yesterday, the Chairman, Charles Ejiogu, disclosed that out of the 19 political parties that registered for the poll, 17 participated.
He said the elections took place at the 4,758 Polling Units (PUs), with APC winning the 27 chairmanship seats and the 305 councillorship positions. Ejiogu described the elections as peaceful, fair and credible and applauded the stakeholders, including the security agencies, the media and political actors in the state for their conduct and cooperation.
Stating that the figures and other information regarding the poll would be made available to the public in due time, he urged aggrieved parties and candidates to channel their grievances through lawful means, adding that the commission avoided intervening in the internal affairs of the parties before the elections.
APC won all the 16 chairmanship and 193 councillorship positions vied for in Kwara. The All Progressives Congress (APC), All Peoples Movement (APM), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Accord Party (AP) participated in the election.
Chairman of KWSIEC, Muhammad Baba-Okanla, described the exercise as peaceful and credible, appreciating media practitioners for being instrumental in the success of the electoral process.
“After meticulous collation and verification, APC emerged victorious in all categories. Specifically, the APC won all 16 chairmanship positions. The party has also secured all 193 councillorship seats.”
He commended political parties for their commitment to a peaceful election, “which did not record any major casualty and the people of Kwara for trooping out en masse to exercise their civic rights. “We also like to appreciate security agencies for ensuring peace and orderliness throughout the voting process in a professional manner.”
Governor AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq described the exercise as commendable amid commendations for the media and security personnel for ensuring a peaceful atmosphere.
PDP members expressed dissatisfaction by staging a protest at the KWASIEC office at Fate area of Ilorin while the APC commended the people for their support at the polls.
With placards bearing different inscriptions including, ‘Kwara people say no to the continuation of bad governance led by APC’, ‘LG Election results declared by KWASIEC is fake’, ‘Government, KWASIEC changed the results of the election in favour of APC’ and ‘KWASIEC robbed PDP in Kwara LG Elections’.
Former commissioner, Saratu Adebayo, who led the protest, accused KWASIEC of forging the results of the elections. She appealed to the KWASIEC chairman to declare the true results of the election cast by the people of the state and declare the PDP candidates as the winners of the elections.
However, the APC commended Kwara people for peaceful conduct during the exercise. Kwara APC chairman, Sunday Fagbemi, commended the people for the large turnout reported, expressing gratitude for the huge support for the party’s candidates in the election.
