“I will be the first governor to break that jinx. Who says Ibadan never serves a governor twice? I will be the first to achieve that,” said Abiola Ajimobi last year in Ibadan. Today, he has made history in Oyo State, becoming the first governor to be re-elected in the state.
Ajimobi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated two other former governors in the state — Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala of Labour Party and Senator Rashidi Ladoja of Accord party — to win the keenly-contested election.
The results showed that Ajimobi had won 20 out of the 33 local governments in the state leaving Ladoja with only seven and Akala with six.
Since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, Oyo has had a new leader, every four years. Dr Lam Adesina won the first election that year, but he was replaced four years later by Rashidi Ladoja. Although Ladoja had political troubles which led to a temporary impeachment (that lasted for almost a year before he was reinstated), it was clear he was not going to win a second term as the Ibadan people could not ‘serve a leader’ twice. Ladoja’s successor, Alao Akala also lasted one term. The jinx has now been broken by Ajimobi whose confidence of victory, even before the polls, stems from his accomplishments, which he claimed were there for all to see.
Announcing the result, the state chief returning officer, Professor Ayobami Salami, disclosed that the governor scored 327,310 votes while Senator Rashidi Ladoja of the Accord Party scored 254,522 votes. Labour Party’s Alao-Akala scored 182,723 votes, while the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s candidate, Teslim Folarin garnered 78,119 votes.
Other results were SDP 54,740 votes, DPP, 1,654 votes, and NNPP, 4,258.
by Greenstarnetwork admin..
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