APC wins 16 LGAs in Ondo, results for two Councils pending

The Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) has announced that the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged victorious in 16 local government areas in Saturday’s election.

12 political parties participated in the local government elections, where positions for chairmen, deputy chairmen, and councillors were contested across the state’s 18 local government councils.

Chairman of the Commission and Chief Returning Officer, Dr Joseph Aremo, declared on Sunday that the APC had secured all the councillorship seats in the 16 local government areas.

Aremo further stated that the results for Owo Local Government Area (LGA) and Ondo West LGA were still pending. The elections in these two councils had been cancelled and rescheduled for Sunday due to the presence of an incorrect logo for one of the parties on the ballot papers.

The ODIEC chairman explained that the cancellation in Ondo West was due to the use of the old logo of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) on the ballot papers. He confirmed that once the election in Ondo West LGA was concluded, the results for both Ondo West and Owo LGAs would be announced at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), one of the 13 registered parties for the election, withdrew from the contest just 48 hours before the event. Mr Leye Igbagbo, the PDP’s Director of Media and Publicity in the state, issued a statement in Akure on Thursday, explaining that the party had lost confidence in the ability of the ODIEC to conduct a fair and credible election.

Among the other parties that participated in the election were the Action Alliance (AA), Labour Party (LP), Action Peoples Party (APP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Boot Party (BP), and Social Democratic Party (SDP), alongside Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Young Progressive Party (YPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), National Rescue Movement (NRM), and Action Democratic Party (ADP)