Governor Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has secured a second term in office after emerging victorious in the Ekiti State governorship election held on Saturday.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officially declared Oyebanji the winner after he defeated 13 other candidates who contested across the state’s 16 local government areas.
According to the election results announced by INEC, Oyebanji garnered 319,224 votes, securing a landslide victory over his closest challenger, Oluwole Oluyede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 40,533 votes. The candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dare Bejide, finished in third place with 2,872 votes.
With the victory, Oyebanji has become the first governor of Ekiti State to win re-election for a consecutive second term since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999.
While former Governor Kayode Fayemi also served two terms, his tenure was not consecutive. Fayemi first governed the state between 2010 and 2014 before returning to office after winning another election in 2018. Oyebanji’s achievement is therefore regarded as a historic milestone in Ekiti’s political landscape.
His re-election is particularly significant given the state’s reputation for fiercely contested elections and frequent shifts in political leadership over the years.
The governorship race attracted candidates from several political parties, including the Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Accord Party (A), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Action Alliance (AA), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), African Action Congress (AAC), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Young Progressives Party (YPP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), and Action Peoples Party (APP).
Oyebanji’s commanding victory across the state’s local government areas further cements the APC’s dominance in Ekiti politics and gives the governor a renewed mandate to continue his administration’s policies and development agenda for another four years.
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