With the result of the by- election into the Ilaje/Ose Odo Federal Constituency of Ondo State declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission, Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko and the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, have sharply disagreed on the outcome of the poll. While Mimiko claims that the Labour Party won the vote and has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to announce the result, Kuku accuses LP of conniving with thugs to disrupt the vote in Arogbo Ward 2, which is a Peoples Democratic Party stronghold with about 7000 voters. While Mimiko went to the Presidential Villa to claim victory for his party, Kuku, told journalists in his office that PDP was poised to win the vote only for LP to team up with an ex-militant youth to disrupt the distribution of election materials in places considered to be PDP stronghold so as to give the LP an edge. But speaking with State House correspondents shortly after meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Mimiko said that from the results declared by INEC, it was clear that the Labour Party won the election. The governor said,”Because of the integrity of electoral processes in Nigeria, because of the reputation that INEC has built for itself, it’s not a perfect body but generally people believe that INEC has been getting its acts together and I think in the interest of that integrity and in the interest of the 2015 that we are all looking forward to and its integrity, I think INEC should just announce this result. Mimiko pointed out that contrary to INEC’s claim that the election was inconclusive; the position of his party was that the election was concluded and not inconclusive. According to the governor, election took place in 21 out of the 22 wards and results were collated at the unit, local government and constituency levels in line with the Electoral Act and the Constitution. He said the requirement for winning election into a legislative house was majority of lawful votes cast and his party had the majority. ”We have looked at the law. We have looked at the constitution. In the case of presidential and governorship elections, the conditions are very clear. ”Apart from having simple majority of votes cast, you need a quarter of two third of the local governments. That is, apart from the quantum, you also need spread. ”But for legislative election, the law prescribes simple majority and mind you, election took place in 21 wards out of 22. Election results have been collated and we are waiting for INEC to announce the results.” In spite of suspending the announcement of the winner of the vote, , Kuku boasted that the PDP was better placed to claim victory in the supplementary election to be called by INEC since the electorate in Arogbo Ward 2 were strong supporters of the party. Kuku boasted that the PDP would win the outstanding 7000 votes in Arogbo and go on to claim the seat any time INEC called for the supplementary vote since according to him, the people of Arogbo had since rejected LP and its policies in Ondo. The presidential aide, who claimed that he was not fighting for political relevance as claimed in some quarters, also denied having any political misunderstanding with Governor Olusegun Mimiko, but pointed out that the governor was trying desperately to decimate the PDP in Ondo State.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Apr 2014 07:15:23 +0000