Home Politics How Akeredolu, Jegede, Ajayi Spent over N929 Million on 2020 Ondo Gov Election

How Akeredolu, Jegede, Ajayi Spent over N929 Million on 2020 Ondo Gov Election

by Roving

••• With massive Vote Buying

A comprehensive report from the Justice, Development and Peace Maker’s Centre Osogbo, JDPMC, has shown that the All Progressives Congress, APC and its candidate, late Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and its candidate, Eyitayo Jegede as well as the Zennit Labour Party, ZLP and its candidate Agboola Ajayi expended a total sum of N929,948,163 on election activities in the 2020 governorship Election in Ondo State.

The 2020 gubernatorial election was held on 10 October 2020 and APC candidate and then incumbent, late governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu won re-election for a second term, defeating PDP Eyitayo Jegede, ZLP Agboola Ajayi and several minor party candidates.

The report tagged campaign finance monitoring of political parties and candidates for 2020 Edo and Ondo Gubernatorial Elections was gathered in collaboration with U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, The International Foundation for Electoral Systems, IFES, and UKaid and released about four years ago.

APC and AKEREDOLU

Break down of the report shows that, The All-progressive Congress (APC) and its Candidate Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu(SAN) spent a total sum of #533,748,310 during his campaigns.

The money was incurred on organizing political events, billboards, banners, campaign offices etc. Out of the total estimated amount incurred on the campaign, Political events carried 86.2% of the total amount spent followed by the media with 6.6%. 44 Political events from mega rallies, street.

PDP and JEGEDE

Similarly, The Peoples Democratic Party and its Candidate Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) spent a total sum of #320,335,843 on his campaigns. The money was incurred on organizing political events, billboards, banners, campaign offices etc.

Out of the total estimated amount incurred on the campaign, Political events such as mega rallies, billboards, posters etc carried 85.9% of the total amount spent followed by the media with 9.3%. 32 Political events of the PDP.

ZLP and AJAYI

The Zenith Labour Party and its Candidate Agboola Ajayi spent a total sum of #75,864,010 στα his campaigns.

The money was incurred on organizing political events, billboards, banners, campaign offices etc. Out of the total estimated amount incurred on the campaign, Political vents such as mega rallies, billboards, posters etc carried 89.0% of the total amount spent llowed by the media which had 6.6%. 21 Political events ranging from mega rallies, street allies, house to house campaigns, distribution of Campaign items carried out across the 15 cal government area of Ondo State were tracked and this resulted into the estimated amount.

JUSTIFICATION

While comparing the candidates of the four political Parties tracked, it showed that the candidates of the two prominent political parties organized Campaign events. In terms of Candidate engagements with electorates, findings revealed that the PDP Candidate engaged the electorates most based on the number of campaign events such as rallies, ward meetings, road shows etc totalling 63 while that of the APC totaled 38 in numbers of events tracked that led to the highest number of money spent on Campaign events. Considering the different on the estimated total amount of money spent by the two major political parties (PDP N686,647,550 and APC-N354,501,116), the amount spent by the candidate of the PDF nearly doubled that of the APC

This revelation is not unconnected to the fact that the power of incumbency played its parts during their campaigns.

Considering the amount spent by the two major contenders to the spending limits as stated in the 2015 Electoral Act which gave the stipulated amount limit of #200 million for any gubernatorial candidate, our findings revealed that the PDP and APC candidates exceeded the limit with amount spent on Campaign events with 242% and 156% respectively.

When comparing the total estimated amount spent by the two main political parties candidates to the stipulated spending limit of #200 million for any gubernatorial candidates, it was revealed that PDP spent N486,647,500 amount to 243% above the spending limit while APC candidate spent N154,501,116 amount to 77% while the YPP Candidate spent below the stipulated amount with 98.7% while that of ZLP equal 99.9%.

VOTE BUYING

The analysis of the report further revealed that different amount of money was shared across political parties and across different locations within the two states.

Where some voters were paid N2,000 in a particular location or as per political party, some were given N5,000. For the purpose of further illustration, In Edo state, PDP commonly paid N5,000 while APC also gave N5,000 particularly in places like Ward 1 Polling unit 7, Owan East LGA where N5,000 was given to voters by both political parties.

In Ondo state, the most frequently paid amount by PDP was N2,000 while APC paid N7,000 and in few places such as Idanre, Ifedore and Ese-Odo LGAS, ZLP paid N1,000. All these were seen and reported across both states.


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