Oyebanji Wins Second Term as Ekiti Governor in Landslide

ADO-EKITI, Nigeria — Gov. Biodun Oyebanji won re-election as governor of Ekiti state Sunday, defeating 13 other candidates to secure a second term, the Independent National Electoral Commission announced.

Oyebanji, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, polled 319,224 votes. His closest rival, Wole Oluyede of the Peoples Democratic Party, got 40,543 votes. Dare Bejide of the African Democratic Congress finished third with 12,872 votes.

Prof. Adenike Oladiji, the returning officer and vice chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, declared the result early Sunday at the INEC collation center in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. Saturday’s election was held across 2,445 polling units in the state’s 16 local government areas.

INEC said 384,940 of the state’s 988,251 registered voters were accredited to vote. Of the 382,109 votes cast, 375,777 were valid.

Oyebanji dominated across the state, winning all 16 local government areas. He recorded his strongest performances in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti West, Irepodun/Ifelodun and Ikole. The PDP’s best showing came in Ikere, the home local government of its candidate, though Oyebanji still won there with 11,116 votes to the PDP’s 9,892.

The victory makes Oyebanji the first Ekiti governor to win consecutive re-election while serving as incumbent, in a state where sitting governors have often lost power. Ekiti has held governorship elections since 1999 and is considered one of Nigeria’s most competitive political states.

Before the election, President Bola Tinubu and Oyebanji had urged supporters to avoid violence at the polls. Election observers reported the vote was largely peaceful, though they flagged concerns about vote-buying and isolated reports of violence at some polling units.

Oyebanji, 59, first won the governorship in 2022. He campaigned for re-election on his first-term record in infrastructure, education, health care, agriculture and investment.

Attention now turns to the opposition’s response and preparations for Oyebanji’s second-term inauguration.