Dare Bejide of ADC Rejects Ekiti Election Results, Calls Poll Unfair

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Dare Bejide, rejected the results of Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State on Sunday.

The Chief Returning Officer from INEC and Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Adenike Oladiji, announced early Sunday that Governor Biodun Oyebanji won the election.

She reported that Mr Oyebanji received 319,224 votes, defeating the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Wole Oluyede, who got 40,543 votes.

Mr Bejide finished third with 12,872 votes in an election where candidates from 14 political parties competed.

In his immediate response, the ADC candidate said the election was not credible. He described the situation during the poll as chaotic, saying vote trading was widespread.

“My immediate reaction is to reject the result in its entirety because, in my view, the exercise conducted yesterday was not credible. You all witnessed what happened, particularly in some polling units, including mine, where the atmosphere was almost like a war zone.”

He also claimed that political appointees and a serving senator brought in thugs and both real and fake policemen. He stated that in some areas, it seemed like the election was only happening in his polling unit. “It is a sad day for democracy.”

“Vote-buying was carried out openly. Bags of money were brought to polling units, and from what we observed, enormous sums were spent. To me, this reflects a failure by the government. If they had performed well, there would have been no need to rely on money to influence voters. They should have depended on their achievements to win the election rather than openly buying votes.”

Bejide mentioned that they alerted security forces to the situation but saw no real action taken. “That is quite unfortunate and raises serious concerns about the state of our democracy,” he said.

Looking ahead, Mr Bejide, who said he had not seen all the results, noted that the party will meet to discuss their next steps. “As for our next line of action, I have not personally seen the full results yet; I have only heard reports on social media. We are currently collating the results available to us. Once we have received and analysed all the polling unit results, we will brief our party members and decide on the appropriate course of action. At this stage, we are certainly not satisfied with the conduct of the election.”

He added that their agents collected results at the state collation centre, but they are still gathering polling unit results. “From the few we have reviewed, we have observed cases of over-voting, alterations and other irregularities. Many disturbing things occurred during the process. When our analysis is completed, we will determine the next steps,” he said.

The ADC candidate confirmed he got a call from Mr Oyebanji about visiting, but he was busy at that time. “Yes, Governor Biodun Oyebanji called me today. He said he wanted to visit. I told him I was occupied at the time and asked if we could speak later. He said he would call back. He is my brother and not a stranger to me. In fact, he began his political journey from this house in 1996. So whenever he comes, I will listen to what he has to say,” he said.

Mr Bejide urged his party’s supporters to stay calm, saying the electoral issues are not over yet. “My message to our supporters is simple: remain calm because it is not over yet. The announced result does not, in our view, reflect what actually transpired. We worked extremely hard during this campaign. We travelled across the state, visited artisans, market women, pensioners and communities. Everywhere we went, people expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the government and indicated their support for our cause.”

He continued, “That is why we believe the outcome announced does not reflect the reality on the ground. You can see that there is no jubilation anywhere. The mood across the state is one of sadness because many people feel something has gone terribly wrong.”

Some people had said before the election that the ADC had no structure and no path to victory. Bejide responded, “If we were not a force to reckon with, why was there such widespread vote-buying? If they were confident in their popularity and achievements, they should have allowed democracy to take its natural course and defeated us at the ballot box.”

He added, “We campaigned vigorously. We went from house to house and met artisans, barbers, traders, market women, and church congregations. We presented our vision and offered what we believed was a better alternative for Ekiti State. While we were engaging directly with the people, others appeared confident that the resources they had amassed would be enough to influence the outcome on election day.”

He expressed disappointment, saying money meant for roads, water, infrastructure and development was allegedly used to buy votes and compromise people's conscience.

“My appeal to the people of Ekiti and our supporters is to remain peaceful and calm. We are carefully studying the results. Once that process is completed, we will know the appropriate steps to take. For now, I urge everyone to be patient and law-abiding,” he said.