The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Governor Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the 2026 Ekiti State governorship election.
The Returning Officer for the election, Adenike Oladiji, announced the result at about 3:13 a.m. on Sunday, declaring that Oyebanji secured a total of 319,224 votes to defeat his closest rivals in the contest conducted across the state’s 16 local government areas.
Oladiji, a professor and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, said the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Oluwole Oluyede, scored 40,543 votes, while Dare Bejide of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) polled 12,872 votes.
She further disclosed that 384,940 voters were accredited for the election, while 375,777 valid votes were recorded.
Oladiji (centre)
According to her, 6,332 votes were rejected, bringing the total votes cast to 382,109.
The declaration brought to a close a closely watched governorship election in which voters across Ekiti State turned out on Saturday to elect a governor amid a generally peaceful atmosphere, despite reports of technical challenges and allegations of irregularities in some locations.
BVAS Complaints, Irregularity Allegations
Before the declaration of results, the election witnessed a mixture of orderly voting, technical challenges and allegations of irregularities, even as observers and many voters commended security agencies for maintaining peace throughout much of the exercise.
INEC reported that all 2,445 polling units designated for the governorship election opened for voting.
According to the commission, 2,257 polling units, representing 92.31 per cent, opened on schedule before 8:30 a.m., while 188 polling units, accounting for 7.69 per cent, experienced minor delays but commenced voting before 10:30 a.m.
The commission also commenced the upload of polling unit results to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV) after voting and counting ended in several locations.
During the election, the PDP candidate, Oluwole Oluyede, expressed dissatisfaction with developments at Ugele/Arokun Ward in Ikere Local Government Area.
Speaking to journalists after casting his vote at Polling Unit 006, he alleged that many voters were unable to vote because of problems associated with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
He also alleged voter harassment and intimidation at the ward.
Earlier, elderly voters at the same polling unit had expressed frustration after being unable to complete accreditation due to BVAS challenges and called on INEC to urgently rectify the situation.
The candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dare Bejide, also alleged irregularities during the election.
ADC candidate Dare Abejide casting his vote in the Ekiti governorship election.
However, Oyebanji rejected the allegations.
The governor told journalists after casting his vote at Polling Unit 003, Okelele, Ikogosi-Ekiti, in Ekiti West Local Government Area, that anyone making such allegations must substantiate them with evidence.
He described the conduct of the election as satisfactory and encouraged eligible voters who had not yet voted to come out peacefully and perform their civic duty.
Similarly, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the election, CP Abayomi Shogunle, said that no case of vote-buying was reported to the agency.
Voting ended before 3 p.m. in many polling units, after which sorting and counting of ballots commenced.
At Polling Unit 008, Ugele/Arokun Ward in Ikere Local Government Area, sorting and counting began at about 2:37 p.m.
However, the exercise became rowdy as party agents and supporters disagreed over the validity of certain ballot papers.
At Polling Unit 006, where the PDP candidate voted, voting was still ongoing as of 4 p.m. because some voters insisted on exercising their franchise despite earlier delays.
Election observers generally commended the conduct of the exercise while raising concerns about certain procedural issues.
An observer and First Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Sebastian Anyia, said the process had remained peaceful and orderly, with voter turnout proving encouraging.
He expressed optimism that the smooth conduct witnessed during accreditation would be sustained throughout the state’s 16 local government areas until the conclusion of the exercise.
Similarly, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund, Brenda Anugwom, praised the commitment shown by female voters.
“The women are so resilient; in front of me at the other polling unit, they are laying their blankets on the floor and placing their toddlers, which means they are here to stay; they mean business, and they really want to cast their vote,” she said.
However, election monitoring group Yiaga Africa raised concerns over what it described as discrepancies between ballot papers, result sheets and INEC’s published list of candidates.
But INEC explained that 19 parties were included on the ballot paper to avoid the cost of printing fresh ballot papers owing to court orders.
“Yiaga Africa is observing the Ekiti State governorship election, and our preliminary findings raise serious concerns about the consistency of the materials INEC has deployed.
“After INEC published its initial list of 12 candidates in January 2026, subsequent court rulings (notably on the PDP’s candidacy) and late administrative changes altered party and candidate participation,” the organisation said in a statement signed by Aisha Abdullahi, Chair of the 2026 Ekiti Election Observation Mission, and Yiaga Africa Executive Director, Samson Itodo.
“Also, the public may not have fully received information about these changes.
“These inconsistencies might create confusion during voting and collation. Where result sheets include parties that are not on the ballot, presiding officers may record zero votes for parties that voters did not see.
“Conversely, where voters cast ballots for parties not reflected on the result sheet, such actions could create uncertainty in recording, reconciliation, and collation,” the organisation further warned.
Yiaga Africa subsequently called on INEC to publicly clarify the final list of parties and candidates and provide written guidance to electoral officials handling collation and result documentation.
Ahead of the election, INEC repeatedly assured residents of its readiness to conduct a credible and transparent exercise.
Security agencies also stated that extensive preparations had been made for the poll.
The Nigeria Police Force led a multi-agency security operation involving scores of personnel deployed across the state to secure polling units, collation centres and other strategic locations.
The police imposed restrictions on vehicular movement during voting hours, intensified patrols and warned political actors against violence, vote-buying and other electoral offences.
Security authorities consistently assured residents that adequate measures had been put in place to guarantee a peaceful and credible election.
With the declaration of the final result by INEC, Oyebanji has secured another term as governor of Ekiti State after recording victory over his opponents in the governorship contest.
Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has acknowledged that he has no evidence to substantiate his claim that he won the 2023 presidential election, while insisting that he remains convinced that he was the actual winner.
Obi made the remarks in a recent interview with BBC Africa while discussing his position on the disputed 2023 election and his plans to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Asked directly whether he had evidence to support his claim of victory in the 2023 election, Obi said, “There’s no evidence. Everything is not based on evidence.”
He nevertheless maintained that he won the election, adding, “I won the election and that’s where I will end. I don’t like going back to the past. I won the election (2023). Well, there’s no evidence but I won the election.”
Obi contested the February 25, 2023 presidential election under the Labour Party and was placed third in the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The electoral commission declared Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner with 8,794,726 votes, while Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar came second with 6,984,520 votes. Obi recorded 6,101,533 votes.
Following the declaration, Obi and the Labour Party challenged the outcome at the Presidential Election Petitions Court, alleging electoral irregularities and non-compliance with electoral laws.
The five-member tribunal dismissed the petition on September 6, 2023, and upheld Tinubu’s victory.
Obi later took the case to the Supreme Court, but a seven-member panel of the apex court dismissed his appeal on October 26, 2023, ruling that it lacked merit and affirming the lower court’s decision.
The Presidency has said the growing number of governors backing President Bola Tinubu gives him a stronger political structure and an advantage over opposition candidates ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
The Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, said this on Channels Television’s Politics Today, arguing that the political landscape had changed considerably since the 2023 election.
Bwala said the support of governors was significant because they control political structures in their respective states and could translate their backing for Tinubu into grassroots mobilisation ahead of the election.
“Since then, President Bola Tinubu has got how many governors on his side? The governors are the Chief Executive Officers of their respective states. They coordinate the structures of the state. These people say, ‘We are putting our goodwill, our resources, our structure, and our support to the President,’” he said.
He said the President’s political position had also been strengthened by people who had benefited from his administration’s policies, including beneficiaries of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), agricultural programmes, manufacturing incentives, CrediCorp and infrastructure projects.
Bwala said the developments constituted “facts, verifiable data” which, in his view, showed that Tinubu had made progress since assuming office in 2023.
He also dismissed suggestions that the administration’s confidence ahead of 2027 was based solely on divisions within the opposition, saying its record in office would form an important part of its campaign.
His comments came amid renewed debate over Tinubu’s popularity and the ability of the opposition to challenge his bid for a second term.
Bwala dismissed an assessment by The Economist that Nigerians may re-elect Tinubu despite disapproval of his administration, arguing that claims about the President’s popularity should be backed by representative opinion surveys.
“When you make a claim that Nigerians don’t like him, without saying, also, that there are a lot of people… one million families that the children have benefited from NELFUND, you think they hate him?” he asked.
He similarly cited beneficiaries of agricultural interventions, support for manufacturers and CrediCorp, arguing that such groups should be considered when assessing public sentiment towards the administration.
On concerns over rising poverty and hunger, Bwala acknowledged that more Nigerians had fallen into poverty but attributed the hardship partly to the economic reforms undertaken by the Tinubu administration.
“More people went down to poverty, I acknowledge, I’m not doubting it. But there’s a but to it. Since when the reform started to today, we have made marked progress,” he said.
According to him, the reforms were necessary to address longstanding economic problems, despite the short-term discomfort experienced by Nigerians.
Bwala also defended Tinubu’s statement that Nigeria had moved from the “doldrums” towards prosperity, saying the President was not suggesting that Nigerians would suddenly begin experiencing prosperity from October 1.
He cited NELFUND beneficiaries, subsidised healthcare, infrastructure projects and support for small and medium-sized businesses as examples of what he described as prosperity already reaching Nigerians.
“One million families whose children have benefited from the NELFUND programme, what they are benefiting is called prosperity,” he said.
“If you go to an environment or a place where there have been no roads or any form of infrastructure, and we have established infrastructure there, what has come to them is prosperity.”
Bwala further claimed that the opposition had lost several influential political figures who played key roles in their 2023 campaigns.
He said former Vice President Atiku Abubakar no longer had the support of governors who worked for his 2023 campaign, while Peter Obi had also lost some critical political allies.
“In terms of the other candidates who say he will not win, Atiku Abubakar lost close to 25 per cent of key people that you know around him. All the governors that worked for him that time are no longer with him,” Bwala said.
“Peter Obi lost 55 per cent of the critical people that carried his campaign; they’ve all disappeared. And some of them went to Atiku, some of them went wherever they could go to.”
He consequently expressed confidence in Tinubu’s prospects in the 2027 contest, saying the political support around the President was considerably different from what existed before the 2023 election.
The National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, David Mark, has warned that the party will comply with electoral rules but will resist any attempt to manipulate the 2027 general elections or rig it out of the contest.
Mark issued the warning on Wednesday in Abuja when he received the governing council of the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, led by former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola (retd.), at the ADC national headquarters.
Mark said the ADC was prepared to abide by the rules governing the elections and the party’s own code of conduct, but would not accept electoral manipulation.
“We hold ourselves to the highest standards of good conduct as a political party. We will play by the rules. But we will not accept rigging or allow ourselves to be rigged out.
“We are committed to playing politics in a manner that promotes public confidence in democracy,” he said.
He added that the party would comply with INEC’s guidelines as well as the provisions of its Orange Book, which sets out the party’s code of conduct and governance principles.
The former Senate President had previously warned against the use of state institutions to manipulate the 2027 elections, saying the credibility of the polls must be protected.
The Council of the Wise, as the governing council is known, was at the party secretariat as part of its ongoing engagement with political parties and other stakeholders ahead of the 2027 elections.
Speaking during the visit, Ariwoola said the centre was seeking the commitment of political parties and their candidates to peaceful, free, fair and credible elections.
He also urged the ADC leadership to ensure that its candidates and supporters complied with the rules of the Independent National Electoral Commission and avoided conduct capable of triggering political violence.
The latest warning came as the Savannah Centre intensifies consultations with political actors and other stakeholders ahead of the elections.
The Council of the Wise, chaired by Ariwoola, was reconstituted in June with a mandate to promote peaceful, free and credible elections and engage key institutions and political actors.
The council’s recent engagements have included meetings with presidential candidates and other political stakeholders, with repeated calls for adherence to electoral rules, issue-based campaigns and the prevention of violence and hate speech.
Ariwoola’s delegation to the ADC included members of the Council of the Wise, among them Professors Abdullahi Shehu and Azeez Dankano, Executive Director of the Centre, Amb Sani Bala, Mr Tunji Lardner and Amb Godswill Ighali.
The centre had earlier said the Council of the Wise would engage President Bola Tinubu, INEC leadership, political parties, security agencies, traditional and religious leaders, civil society groups and other stakeholders ahead of the elections.
