Governor Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress has been re-elected as governor of Ekiti State after recording a sweeping victory in Saturday’s governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission declared Oyebanji winner of the poll in the early hours of Sunday following the collation of results from the state’s 16 local government areas.
Announcing the outcome at the state collation centre in Ado-Ekiti, the Returning Officer, Prof. Adenike Oladiji, said the APC candidate met all constitutional requirements and secured the highest number of valid votes cast.
According to the official results, Oyebanji garnered 319,224 votes to defeat his closest challengers, Olumayokun Oluyede of the Peoples Democratic Party, who polled 40,533 votes, and the African Democratic Congress candidate, Dare Bejide, who secured 12,872 votes.
Oladiji subsequently returned the governor elected for a second term in office.
The election, conducted across the 16 local government areas of the state, recorded a total of 382,109 votes cast, while 375,777 were declared valid. INEC also disclosed that 384,940 voters were accredited out of the 988,251 registered voters in the state.
A breakdown of the results showed that Oyebanji dominated the poll across all local government areas, including Efon Local Government Area, the home council of the PDP candidate.
In Efon, the APC polled 8,742 votes, while the PDP secured 2,051 votes and the ADC recorded 201 votes.
The governor also posted impressive margins in major councils such as Ado, Ekiti West, Irepodun/Ifelodun, Ikole and Ijero, reinforcing the APC’s strong grip on the state.
The outcome of the election marks another electoral success for the ruling party in Ekiti, with Oyebanji securing a decisive mandate to continue in office for another four-year term.