BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The ruling All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has won all chairmanship and council seats during the local council elections held at the weekend.
The election, conducted by the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission saw the APC securing all 38 chairmanship and 177 councillors’ seats in the Local Government Areas and the Local Council Development Areas.
The election results were announced on Sunday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, by returning officers for each of the 16 LGAs and 22 LCDAs.
In addition to the APC, other political parties participating in the exercise included Action Alliance (AA), Action Democratic Party (ADP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), People’s Redemption Party (NRP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
The two major opposition parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), boycotted the election, potentially contributing to the unprecedented low turnout of voters in the state.
The chairman of EKSIEC, Justice Cornelius Akintayo (retd), commended the people of the state for the peaceful conduct of the election, emphasizing that it would bring governance closer to them at the grassroots.
Akintayo expressed gratitude for the significant contributions of stakeholders, particularly security agencies and the media, to the success of the election.
He considered the election to the council areas as a fulfillment of the democratic principle for people to decide their leaders and stressed the need for more political awareness and sensitization for residents to participate more in future council elections.
He praised the eight political parties for their participation and display of sportsmanship in accepting the outcomes of the exercise while also commending the roles of the ad-hoc staff deployed for the election.