The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Biodun Oyebanji, winner of the 2026 Ekiti State governorship election.
The Returning Officer for the election and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Prof. Adenike Oladiji, announced the result at about 3:13 a.m. on Sunday at the State Collation Centre in Ado-Ekiti.
According to Oladiji, Oyebanji secured 319,224 votes to defeat his closest rival, Oluwole Oluyede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 40,543 votes. The candidate of the African Democratic Party (ADP), Dare Bejide, garnered 12,872 votes.
She disclosed that a total of 384,940 voters were accredited for the exercise, while 375,777 votes were declared valid. The election also recorded 6,332 rejected ballots.
Voting commenced at about 8:31 a.m. on Saturday and officially ended at 2:30 p.m., with over 300,000 voters participating in the exercise.
The results, which were collated from the 16 local government areas of the state, were announced at the State Collation Centre in Ado-Ekiti in the early hours of Sunday.
