Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi yesterday broke the second term jinx, winning the governorship election.After he was declared the winner at the state Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) headquartres, the ancient capital city, Ibadan, erupted in jubilation as hundreds of men and women, young and old took to the streets in honour of the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate.
At about 5.15pm shortly after the INEC made the announcement of the results, many party men, who kept vigil at the commission’s state secretariat at Agodi since Saturday, embarked on victory dance in groups, waving brooms.
Many of the residents also joined the train, which marched through Mokola to the Oluyole residence of Ajimobi on foot.
Outside the city, residents of Saki, Iseyin, Oyo, Okeho, Iwo-Ate and Ibarapa also rejoiced as the news broke that Ajimobi had been officially announced winner of the keenly contested poll.
The governor polled 327,310 to beat his closest challenger, Rashidi Ladoja of Accord, who scored 254,520. Labour Party (LP) candidate, Adebayo Alao-Akala, came third with 184,111 votes.
Ajimobi won in 20 local governments. Ladoja got seven and Alao-Akala won in six.
They were followed by the candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Teslim Folarin, who scored 79,019, Seyi Makinde of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) polled 54,740, to come fifth.
Of the 32 House of Assembly seats, the APC won 18, Accord won eight. LP won six seats.
An elated Ajimobi dedicated his victory to God. He also described his victory as the triumph of democracy, promising to serve the people with all his heart.
“The people of Ibadan have spoken. The people of Oyo have spoken. The people of Oke-Ogun have spoken. The people of Ibarapa have spoken and we appreciate all of them,” the governor said.
Ajimobi was grateful to his fellow contestants, particularly Alao-Akala and Makinde, who he acknowledged had called him earlier on telephone to congratulate him, even before the result was announced.
Acknowledging his victory as a unique success, Ajimobi said the only reward he could give the people in return was to serve them with all his heart.
His residence at Oluyole Estate suddenly became a huge arena hosting crowds of supporters.
Everyone struggled for an opportunity to congratulate him on his success.
Folarin conceded defeat Saturday evening after recognising that he could no longer win the election based on reports from his agents across the state.
Alao-Akala followed suit shortly before the result was collated.
But Ladoja rejected the result.
His agent, Nureni Adisa, who witnessed collation of results at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), refused to sign the final result.
He said he was instructed by the party leadership not to endorse the INEC result sheet.
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