APC national chair Abdullahi Ganduje has revealed the ruling party’s plot to win the entire South-West to establish political homogeneity by winning the governorship elections in Osun and Oyo.

The former Kano governor said this after Governor Lucky Aiyedatiawa was declared the winner of Saturday’s governorship election.

“Our next target now is this geopolitical zone, the South-West. And you know we are good at hitting our target: that is Osun state and Oyo state,” Mr Ganduje said. “We assure you that we will do all what is possible to bring them into the fold. So that we have political homogeneity in the South-West geopolitical zone.”

Mr Ganduje said the Ondo electorate voted for the continuity of the APC government while commending President Bola Tinubu for not interfering with the electoral process.

INEC’s returning officer Olayemi Akinwunmi announced Mr Aiyedatiwa as the winner of the election at the state collation centre at Alagbaka in Akure.

According to him, Mr Aiyedatiwa polled 366,781 votes to defeat his major rival and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Agboola Ajayi, who had 117,845 votes. The African Democratic Party’s Adeyemi Nejo came third with 4,138.

On Sunday, Mr Tinubu congratulated Mr Aiyedatiwa on his re-election at Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo.

“President Tinubu believes the Ondo state election was another litmus test of the capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),” a statement from the presidency said. “He affirmed that the electoral body justified the confidence of the people with early preparations, deployment of staff and materials, and handling of the electoral process.”

The president congratulated Mr Aiyedatiwa and other candidates of the 17 political parties for the maturity and sense of purpose demonstrated during the campaigns and the election, attributing the polls’ success to the state’s civility.

He urged the political actors to allow their orderly conduct to permeate the post-election activities and processes.