The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday declared the incumbent governor of Ekiti State and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, as the winner of the 2026 Ekiti State governorship election. By that feat, Oyebanji has made history as the first governor of the state to secure back-to-back re-election victories since the creation of Ekiti State in 1996, breaking the long-standing jinx. The APC candidate polled 319,224 votes to defeat his closest rival, Wole Oluyede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 40,543 votes, while the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Oluwadare Bejide, came third with 12,872 votes. In his reaction to the declaration, Governor Oyebanji promised to serve the people better than before with courage, compassion, humility, and the fear of God, even as the ADC candidate Dare Bejide and PDP’s Dr. Wole Oluyede rejected the outcome, alleging gross irregularities, intimidation, and vote-buying. INEC has since presented the certificate of return to Governor Oyebanji and his deputy, Monisade Afuye, following their joint victory in the Ekiti State governorship election. Similarly, the outcome of Saturday’s by-elections showed that the APC won five of the six contests, with Asogwa Ikeje Israel winning Enugu North, Danladi Envulu-Anza claiming Nasarawa North, Dayo Faduyile clinching Ondo South, Rabiu Shuaibu winning the Dawaki Kudu/Warawa Federal Constituency in Kano State, and Rabiu Aiki winning the Zuru State Constituency seat, while PDP’s Olaka Nwogu won the Rivers South-East contest. President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has already sworn in the four newly elected senators to the upper legislative chamber. On the other hand, the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) has been engulfed in a fresh crisis of deregistration as the Federal High Court in Lokoja, presided over by Justice Isah Dashen, set aside an earlier ruling that compelled INEC to register the party, ordering instead that the matter be heard afresh after an application by the Peace Movement Party (PMP). Rejecting the ruling at a press conference in Abuja, the National Chairman of the NDC, Senator Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, vowed to appeal the judgment on Monday, assuring candidates that the party remains on course and condemning alleged efforts by detractors to shrink the democratic space ahead of the upcoming 2027 general election cycle.
