Ekiti Election: APC Deploys Akpabio, Uba Sani to Lead Campaign

The All Progressives Congress mobilised Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani to lead its Ekiti State governorship campaign council on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, as the party launched an intensified final push for votes with just 11 days remaining before the June 20 election.

The APC National Working Committee approved the high-powered campaign structure following a meeting in Abuja, with Akpabio as chairman and Uba Sani as co-chairman of the expanded council. Senior party officials described the move as a signal of how seriously the APC was taking the Ekiti election and how central the vote was to the party’s national narrative ahead of 2027.

Vice President Kashim Shettima also threw his full weight behind the campaign during his Ekiti visit on Tuesday, advocating strongly for the reelection of Governor Biodun Oyebanji. Shettima said Oyebanji had shown vision and commitment to Ekiti’s development and deserved the support of voters for a second term. He also performed the groundbreaking of the Ekiti Knowledge Zone on behalf of President Tinubu as part of the federal government’s investment in the state.

Oyebanji’s Campaign Buoyed by Federal Support

The combination of federal infrastructure commissioning, vice-presidential endorsement, and a heavyweight campaign council signals the full weight of the APC’s national machinery being deployed in Ekiti. Governor Oyebanji appears to be the beneficiary of one of the most comprehensively supported incumbent governorship campaigns in recent Nigerian electoral history.

However, opposition parties said the level of federal government involvement in the Ekiti campaign raised serious concerns about the use of state resources for partisan electoral purposes. The PDP and ADC both called on INEC and security agencies to ensure that the deployment of federal officials and projects did not constitute an improper use of incumbency advantage.

Meanwhile, INEC reiterated its commitment to a level playing field, saying all 12 parties contesting the Ekiti election would be afforded equal treatment by the commission on election day. The electoral commission also confirmed that voting technology and logistics for the exercise were in place and that all 16 local government areas had been fully covered in its voter education drive. Furthermore, security agencies confirmed that a robust deployment plan had been finalised, with officers stationed at all polling units across the state. Notably, pre-election polling conducted by civil society organisations suggested that Oyebanji was leading by a comfortable margin. Consequently, the key questions on June 20 are likely to be about voter turnout and the margin of victory rather than the direction of the result.

Peter Obi Warns Against Godfatherism

In addition, Labour Party’s Peter Obi used the Democracy Day period to warn against what he described as the growing influence of political godfathers in Nigerian elections. He said genuine democracy required voters to choose their leaders freely rather than have choices imposed on them by powerful individuals controlling party structures. As a result, Obi’s message resonated with a section of the electorate frustrated by what they see as elite capture of Nigeria’s democratic processes.