My final word on Ekiti 2026 governorship election

 

Pursuant to section 178 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as altered, the Independent National Electoral Commission has held the fourth in the series of off-cycle governorship election in Ekiti State on Saturday, June 20, 2026. Recall that as a result of the 2007 governorship election in Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the then Action Congress of Nigeria decided to seek redress at the election tribunal following the INEC’s declaration of Engineer Segun Oni of Peoples Democratic Party as the winner of that poll. After three years of legal fireworks both at the tribunal and the appellate court, the Court of Appeal in Ilorin declared Fayemi as the winner of that disputed election thereby sacking Oni.

The first off cycle governorship election in Ekiti State was held in 2014. Others were held in 2018, 2022 and 2026. Off cycle governorship election actually started in Anambra State in a dispute over the 2003 governorship poll between Dr. Chris Ngige of PDP and Mr. Peter Obi of the then All Progressives Grand Alliance. Obi won after three years at the tribunal and Court of Appeal. From then on governorship election in Anambra has never been at the same time with other states as the governor has to spend four years starting from when he is sworn into office. A total of eight states now has their governorship elections at different times from the 28 others. They are: Anambra, Ekiti, Edo, Ondo, Osun, Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa.

Last Saturday’s governorship poll took a year of painstaking planning. INEC had released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities a year ago. Some of the activities held ahead of the poll include the party primaries, nomination of candidates, continuous voters’ registration, campaigns, procurement of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials, recruitment, training and deployment of ad-hoc poll officials, signing of peace accord by contestants, voter education, accreditation of observers, journalists, and polling  agents, signing of Memorandum of Understanding with logistic companies for movement of poll workers and materials, and activation of Registration Area Centre on the eve of election in order to facilitate movement to Polling Units on election day. This is to show that election is a long chain of activities and not a one-day event.

The Independent National Electoral Commission declared the All-Progressives Congress candidate, Governor Biodun Oyebanji, the winner of the Ekiti State governorship election held on Saturday. The governor was re-elected after polling 319,224 votes over his closest rivals in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Wole Oluyede who polled 40, 533 votes, and the African Democratic Congress, Ambassador Dare Bejide who scored 12,872 votes. The Returning Officer for the election, Prof Adenike Oladiji, who is the Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Akure, announced the results in the early hours of Sunday, June 21 at the INEC’s headquarters in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

The election was held across Ekiti State’s 16 Local Government Areas, 177 Wards and 2,445 Polling Units. 14 candidates contested the election and the turnout was put at 37 per cent. The election was peaceful with only 24 incidents and irregularities documented by a group of civil society organisations while the police claimed only one arrest was made. Election started on time in most of the polling units, the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System device better known as BVAS performed optimally in over 80 per cent of the Polling Units and where there were issues with the device, INEC RAC Techs were called for troubleshooting and possible replacements. The accreditation, voting, sorting, counting, announcement of results and declaration of winners were largely seamless. By 10 pm on the election day, over 90 per cent of the Polling Unit results were already uploaded on the INEC’s Result Viewing Portal better known as IREV. 

In the last one week, I have been on several media platforms to analyse the poll. They include Arise News TV, Nigerian Television Authority, Channels Television, Trust TV, Africa Independent Television, Radio Nigeria (network), Real Broadcasting Network, and Law 103.9 FM, Lagos. My prediction was that last Saturday’s election is a one-horse race as the incumbent enjoys a lot of goodwill. For instance, all the former governor of Ekiti State endorsed him, Ekiti elite endorsed him, the artisan, transport unions, traders and students’ unions also said he is their preferred candidates. He has also been able to deliver on modest infrastructural development such as making the Ekiti Airport functional, rehabilitating a number of roads and building a 1.2 km flyover which was commissioned by Vice President Kashim Shettima on June 9, 2026.

Governor Oyebanji’s reelection is significant in many respects. He is the first Ekiti governor to win a reelection as a sitting governor. Others before him such as Ayo Fayose and Kayode Fayemi had non-consecutive tenure. In fact, Otunba Niyi Adebayo only did one term.  So, BAO, as the governor is popularly called is a jinx breaker. His victory is also a victory for Nigerian women as his deputy, whom he renominated as a running mate, is a woman. She’s Mrs.  Monisade Afuye. Indeed, Ekiti State is one of the few states in Nigeria that has produced several female deputy governors. Previously, the state has produced Chief Biodun Olujimi who later became a senator; Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka and Prof. Modupe Adelabu.

As Governor Biodun Oyebanji takes oath of office for second term on October 16, he should keep fidelity with his six-point agenda as enunciated in his “Roadmap to a Prosperous Ekiti". The agenda focused on youth development, job creation, human capital development, agriculture and rural development, infrastructure and industrialisation, arts, culture and tourism, and good governance. Your excellency, the Arinta Waterfalls in Ipole-Iloro needs a facelift. When I visited the place earlier this year, it looks forlorn and pedestrian. I suggest the same public private partnership arrangement made to revitalize Ikogosi Warm Spring in your hometown should be extended to the waterfalls.

As for INEC and security agencies who ensured the success of the 2026 governorship poll in Ekiti, the reward for hard work is more work, Osun governorship election scheduled for August 15, 2026 beckons. Sincerely, that poll will present greater challenge than Ekiti. Osun is almost double the size of Ekiti in terms of population and local government areas. Not only that, it’s going to be a two-horse race where the incumbent, Governor Ademola Adeleke of Accord Party will slug it out with his main challenger, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, widely known as AMBO of the All-Progressives Congress. May the best candidate win!

I.G: @jideojong