Governor of Kaduna state and chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign council for Ekiti governorship election, Uba Sani, says the ruling party is targeting at least 500,000 votes for Biodun Oyebanji, governor of the state, in the ongoing poll.
Sani spoke on Saturday during an interview on Arise Television while giving an update on the conduct of the election across the state.
According to him, reports from across the 16 LGAs and the state’s 177 wards indicated that the election was proceeding peacefully and transparently.
“I can assure you that the election so far is going very well, very peaceful and transparent,” he said.
“The people are working together with the relevant security agencies, the INEC officials and the agents of different political parties without any problem.”
Sani expressed confidence that the APC would emerge victorious based on reports received from across the state.
The Kaduna governor said the APC’s target was significantly higher than the 187,000 votes secured by Oyebanji in the 2022 governorship election.
He said the target was informed by the state’s voter strength, noting that more than one million voters were registered in Ekiti and that about 97 per cent of permanent voter cards (PVCs) had been collected.
“When we came in about two months ago, we made it clear that in the last election APC won about 187,000 votes,” he said.
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“But with over one million registered voters and about 97 percent PVC collection, what we’re looking at as APC is about 500,000 votes for Governor Oyebanji, by the grace of God.”
Sani commended officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies and election observers for their roles in ensuring a smooth process.
The governor said only a limited number of incidents had been recorded during the election.
According to him, out of more than 2,400 polling units across the state, about 131 incidents were reported, mostly linked to network challenges affecting the upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
He said the electoral commission promptly addressed the issues.
The APC campaign council chairman further praised the security situation during the election, saying political parties had expressed satisfaction with the conduct of security personnel.
Sani attributed the party’s confidence to what he described as Oyebanji’s inclusive style of governance and the impact of President Bola Tinubu’s reforms.
He cited interventions in healthcare, education and infrastructure, as well as the payment of pension and retirement benefits, as factors that had strengthened support for the governor ahead of the poll.
“That is why we’re hoping to get nothing less than 500,000 votes or something close to that,” he said.
