A young politician written off as a greenhorn, Mr. Mayokun Lawson-Alade, has been declared winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary for the by-election into the Akure North/Akure South Constituency seat in the House of Representatives.
He defeated those regarded as political heavyweights in Akure politics by polling 305 votes.
What was shocking was that Lawson-Alade was said not to have printed huge billboards, neither did he have lots of campaign posters in the Akure metropolis.
Other aspirants in the race were a former member of the House of Representatives and Secretary to the Ondo State Government, Ifedayo Abegunde, ex-member of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Ademola Adegoroye, former Commissioner for Women Affairs, Omowunmi Olatunji-Ohwovoriole, Director of Administration in the Senate, Mr. Dennis Fadairo, ex-lawmaker Abiodun Derin Adesida, a member of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Sunday Olajide and Mr. Owoyemi Emmanuel Bukola.
Lawson-Alade’s closest rival, Omowunmi, got 196 votes, Olajide polled 13 votes, Ifedayo scored 56 votes, Fadairo polled 43 votes, Owoyemi got four votes, Abiodun scored 16 votes, while Adegoroye got 66 votes.
Seven hundred and fifteen delegates were accredited for the primary held at the International Event and Cultural Centre, otherwise called Dome, in Akure.
Accreditation and voting began about 4:15pm.
Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had urged the delegates to vote for their choice, as he had no preferred aspirant.
He hoped that the party would be victorious at the polls.
The Chairman of the APC Akure by-election Committee and Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Nkem Okeke, who declared Lawson-Alade as the winner, said it was a free and fair election.