The incumbent governor, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, swept to victory winning 15 of the 18 local governments, while Jegede won three.
Governor Akeredu of the All Progressives Congress got 292,830 votes, while Jegede of the Peoples Democratic Party and Agboola of the Zenith Labour Party came second and third in the election with 195,791 and 69,127 votes, respectively.
Based on the votes secured, the Chief Returning Officer for the election, Professor Idowu Olayinka, returned Akeredolu as the governor-elect on Sunday at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Akure, which doubles as the final collation centre.
“Having satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the highest number of votes, I hereby declare Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu of the APC as the winner, and he is hereby returned elected,” Professor Olayinka declared said.
It is the second time the governor is defeating the PDP candidate. In 2016, Akeredolu, with Ajayi as his running mate, defeated to win his first term as governor. Ajayi fell out with Akeredolu and chose to go against his boss this time around.