Oyebanji Wins Again in Ekiti Elections

Governor Biodun Oyebanji has won a second term in office after taking all 16 local government areas of Ekiti State. The results were announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate received 319,224 votes. This was far ahead of the 40,543 votes from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the 12,872 votes from the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

From the capital Ado Ekiti to rural areas like Moba and Ekiti East, Mr Oyebanji kept a strong lead, leaving the opposition without a single local government area.

A sweep across Ekiti

The APC performed best in Ado Ekiti, where Mr Oyebanji got 38,026 votes, almost ten times the PDP’s 3,817 votes.

Other strong areas for the APC included Irepodun/Ifelodun with 29,278 votes, Ekiti West with 28,258 votes, Ikole with 26,508 votes, and Ekiti East with 26,359 votes.

These five councils contributed nearly half of the total votes for the governor across the state.

The only real contest

While the APC did well in most councils, Ikere LGA had the closest election. The gap was just 1,224 votes, which was the smallest difference between the two leading parties anywhere in Ekiti. But even there, the governor won.

Three points stand out from the results. First, Mr Oyebanji won in every local government area, stopping the opposition from setting up any stronghold.

Second, the APC had large margins in the state’s biggest voting areas, especially Ado Ekiti, Irepodun/Ifelodun, and Ekiti West.

Third, the opposition votes were spread thin across the state. The PDP only got over 3,000 votes in a few councils and nearly won only in Ikere.

With wins in all 16 councils and a lead of over 278,000 votes against his closest rival, it seems Mr Oyebanji’s re-election was not a tight race.

Even though INEC said the election was peaceful, some observers noted issues with electoral materials and reported cases of vote-buying in parts of the state.

Votes began at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday in many of the 2,445 polling units in the state. After voting, results were shared for each polling unit.

The results from these units were put together in the 177 wards before further counting in each of the 16 local government areas.

Ekiti has 1,059,360 registered voters. However, only 1,028,929 who picked up their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) could vote in elections involving 14 political parties.