The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has issued a Certificate of Return to Dr Kayode Fayemi, the winner of the governorship election in Ekiti State.
INEC National Commissioner, Mr Solomon Soyebi, presented the certificate to the governor-elect on Wednesday amid a crowd of supporters at the commission’s headquarters in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
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Dr Fayemi commended the electoral umpire and security agencies for a job well done, stating that serious governance has just started for him.
He was the governor of Ekiti between 2010 and 2014 before he lost his re-election to the incumbent governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose.
Fayemi later joined President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet in 2015 as the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, until he resigned in May 2018 to contest the governorship poll again.
Having completed his eight years as governor, Fayose who has always criticised the former minister and President Buhari’s administration, wanted his deputy and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Professor Kolapo Olusola, to succeed him.
But the governor’s expectations were cut short on Sunday when INEC declared Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the poll held on Saturday last week.
Fayemi polled 197,459 votes to beat his PDP rival Olusola who scored 178,121 votes, as well as the candidates of over 30 other political parties who took part in the governorship race.
The leadership of the APC and the PDP have disagreed over the outcome of the election.
On his part, Fayose accused the President of using the security agencies to win the poll for the former minister and the APC.
“The President should bury his head in shame for using the Police, Army, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and INEC to snatch the mandate given to Olusola and deliver it to Fayemi ‘whom Ekiti people rejected”, claimed the governor who insisted that his party would reclaim their mandate.
