Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been re-elected as the governor of Ekiti state.
The incumbent recorded a dominant victory in the election, which took place on Saturday.
Oyebanji defeated the other challengers in the race in all 16 local government areas (LGAs) in Ekiti.
Adenike Oladiji, the returning officer, announced the final result at the collation centre in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, on Sunday morning.
Oladiji said Oyebanji polled 319,224 votes to defeat Wole Oluyede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 40,543 votes, and Dare Bejide of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), who scored 12,872 votes.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 988,251 voters registered to cast their ballots in the election. However, only 384,940 were accredited to vote.
Total valid votes stood at 375,777.
There were 6,332 rejected votes, with 382,109 total votes cast.
The election was relatively peaceful across the state, with allegations of vote-buying and voter suppression in some polling units dominating the headlines as the vote progressed.
There were also glitches with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), with the elderly most affected.
Oyebanji, 58, was first elected governor on June 18, 2022. He took the oath of office in October of the same year.
The 2026 election victory makes Oyebanji the first Ekiti governor to secure re-election as an incumbent.
Sodiq Yusuf is a trained media practitioner and journalist with considerable years of experience in print, broadcast, and digital journalism. His interests cover a wide range of causes in politics, governance, sports, community development, and good governance.
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