Governor Biodun Oyebanji has shattered Ekiti State’s political succession curse. The Independent National Electoral Commission declared him winner of the June 20 governorship election after he polled 319,224 votes. His closest rival, Wole Oluyede of the Peoples Democratic Party, managed only 40,543 votes. The margin—278,681 votes—is the widest in the state’s electoral history.
The victory hands Oyebanji a second four-year term and makes him the first governor in Ekiti to win re-election since the state’s creation in 1996. Every previous governor had failed to secure a second mandate. The result also confirms the All Progressives Congress as the dominant party in the South-West, controlling all six governorship seats for the first time since 2015.
INEC’s returning officer, Professor Adenike Oladiji, announced the final tally at 3 a.m. on Sunday. Total registered voters stood at 988,251. Only 384,940 voters were accredited, yielding a turnout of 38.9 percent. Of the 382,109 ballots cast, 375,777 were valid. The remaining 6,332 were rejected for irregularities.
The APC swept all 16 local government areas. In Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, Oyebanji secured 38,026 votes against the PDP’s 3,817. In Ikere, the PDP’s traditional stronghold, he still won 11,116 to 9,872. The African Democratic Congress, fielding former ambassador Dare Bejide, finished third with 12,872 votes statewide. Fourteen other parties shared the remaining 3,138 votes.
Oyebanji’s campaign relied on a three-pronged strategy. First, he delivered visible infrastructure: 180 kilometres of rural roads, 32 completed primary healthcare centres, and a new 500-bed teaching hospital in Ado-Ekiti. Second, he launched a direct cash-transfer programme that disbursed N10,000 monthly to 50,000 elderly residents. Third, he neutralised opposition within his own party by absorbing key defectors from the PDP and the Social Democratic Party into his cabinet.
The election exposed structural weaknesses in the opposition. The PDP, which governed Ekiti from 2014 to 2018, failed to present a coherent economic plan. Its candidate, Wole Oluyede, a former university don, campaigned on a promise to “restore dignity” but offered no detailed policy documents. The party’s internal crisis deepened when its state chairman, Alhaji Gboyega Awomodu, was arrested two weeks before the poll on charges of vote-buying. The ADC, despite fielding a high-profile candidate, lacked grassroots machinery outside its base in Ijero Local Government.
Voter behaviour revealed a generational divide. Youth turnout was 28 percent, down from 34 percent in 2022. In contrast, voters aged 50 and above turned out at 52 percent. Analysts attribute the drop to disillusionment among young voters who expected Oyebanji’s first term to deliver more white-collar jobs. The governor’s focus on agriculture and rural infrastructure, while boosting food security, did not create the urban employment that younger voters demanded.
INEC’s performance came under scrutiny. Although the commission uploaded results from 2,109 of the 2,195 polling units to its IReV portal within 24 hours, delays in 86 units triggered opposition protests. PDP agents alleged manipulation in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government, where the APC’s margin jumped from 12,000 votes in 2022 to 27,000 in 2026. INEC dismissed the claims, citing higher voter turnout in rural wards. The commission also faced logistical challenges: 12 percent of polling units opened late due to delayed deployment of sensitive materials.
The outcome reshapes Ekiti’s political economy. Oyebanji’s victory secures federal patronage for the next four years. The state’s monthly federal allocation, currently N6.2 billion, is expected to rise as the new Ado-Ekiti International Airport nears completion. The governor has already announced plans to float a N50 billion infrastructure bond, targeting pension funds and domestic institutional investors. Analysts warn, however, that the bond’s success hinges on maintaining the state’s current credit rating, which was upgraded to A- by Agusto & Co in March 2026.
