An Australia based medical practitioner, Dr. Wole Oluyede, has won the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship ticket for the 2026 gubernatorial election in Ekiti State.
Oluyede defeated three other governorship aspirants to emerge the candidate of the party in the election.
There was heavy presence of armed security agents at the venue of the primary election held at Oke-Ila area of Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
The election, which was decided by over 500 delegates of the party drawn from 177 wards and 16 local government areas of the state was also monitored by the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the media.
The shadow election, which commenced with the accreditation of delegate around 10:30pm on Saturday night was concluded in the early hours of Sunday.
Announcing the results of the primary election, the Chairman, Ekiti State PDP governorship Primary Election Committee,, former Gombe State governor, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo said Oluyede polled 279 votes to clinch the party ticket .
Senator Dankwambo who is representing Gombe North Senatorial District at the National Assembly added that, Mr Funso Ayeni scored 239 votes while Mrs Funmilayo Ogun polled 17 votes to place second and third respectively in the contest.
The fourth party governorship aspirant, Otunba Peter Obafemi, had few minutes to the contest stepped down for Dr. Oluyede, saying it was fo the peace of the party.
Obafemi who described Oluyede as a man of integrity, said he has ability and all take it takes give the party to victory at the poll.
In his acceptance speech, Dr. Oluyede commended the spirit of fairness and transparency that characterised the process, saying the outcome was a collective triumph for all members of the PDP.
While expressing gratitude to the party’s national leadership for their role in ensuring a credible primary, he thanked the National Chairman, Amb. Umar Damagum and the PDP Southwest leader, Oyo State governor , Engr. Seyi Makinde, for creating a level playing field for all aspirants in the contest.
Oluyede who pledged to restore hope, rebuild trust and reclaim Ekiti from the grip of misrule, urged the people join hands with and support him in the mission to move Ekiti forward and return good governance to the state.
According to him”Today marks a victory not just for me, but for every member of our great party in Ekiti State. In this election, there are no losers only partners in progress and champions of democracy. The spirit of maturity, sincerity and fairness shown in this primary demonstrates that true change is coming to Ekiti.
“Your leadership has strengthened our faith in democracy. To my fellow aspirants, I salute your courage and sportsmanship.
This victory belongs to all of us. Now, we must unite as one family to deliver the real victory, the PDP victory in the governorship election.” he added.
Speaking on the election, Ayeni who applauded the leadership of the party for staging a good show, however picked hole in the process with the promise to make use of the internal mechanism to address the issues.
He said, “And I can tell you the process is not perfect and when a process is not perfect, we try to use internal process to also correct it. Definitely this is not the end of the process, I would say.
This is just the beginning. You know, we look inward and look at our processes one more time. Unless we end up backshifting”.
Addressing newsmen after the election, Chairman of PDP in Ekiti State,.Tunji Odeyemi expressed satisfaction with the successful conduct of the primary, saying it as a major step towards the party’s goal of reclaiming the state from the APC.
Odeyemi lauded party members resilience throughout the long day of voting, which stretched from morning until the early hours of the following day, appealing to all aspirants to be united and work for the success of the party in the next year election.
According to him, “To God be the glory, a winner has emerged and that has been our target since I became chairman. Many thought this primary would lead to crisis, but we have shown otherwise. With God and our collective vision, we will take over the governance of Ekiti State.
“Only one person can occupy the seat. Now that a candidate has emerged, we must reconcile and move forward together to win the election. We have all it takes to take over the governance of Ekiti State”.
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