The candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Myson Nejo, has condemned the conduct of the just-concluded Ondo State governorship election, alleging that the election was characterised by vote trading.
He attributed his loss in the election to his refusal to trade votes for money.
Nejo, who stated this on Sunday, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, said that despite losing the election, he was satisfied with himself.
He said, “The reaction of the people? I thank the good people of Ondo State for voting for me without giving them any money, and they still voted for me. I want to believe that my vote is valid because there was nothing like vote-buying or any unethical practices on my side. So far, I want to believe I’m a winner in this election.”
On the issue of vote buying during the election, Nejo specifically confirmed that the votes were being bought for as much as N20,000, describing the development as worrisome.
“People were buying votes for N20,000 or N15,000, and in my polling unit, it was N10,000 to N15,000.
“Because I didn’t have money and I told them I wasn’t going to give even a kobo to buy votes, I ended up with only two votes in my unit and about 40 votes in total, but I don’t care. People were calling me, asking for money in exchange for their votes, but I stood my ground. If they want to vote, they should vote. I wasn’t going to give a kobo to buy votes.”
The State Returning Officer, Prof Olayemi Akinwumi, who presented the final results of the elections, on Sunday at the State Collation Centre in Akure, the state capital, said Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa scored 366,781 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ajayi Agboola of the Peoples Democratic Party with 117,845 votes.
Aiyedatiwa was subsequently returned elected as the Ondo governor, emerging victorious in all 18 Local Government Areas of the state.