The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the incumbent governor of Ekiti State and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, as the winner of the 2026 Ekiti State governorship election .
By this development development, Oyebanji has made history by becoing the first governor of the state to be re-elected back to back since the creation of Ekiti State in 1996.
He did not only win the majority votes but he won the election in all the 16 local government areas of the State.
The Returning Officer of the Ekiti State Governorship Election and Vice-Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Professor Adenike Oladiji, announced the result in the wee hours of Sunday, June 21, 2026, at the INEC headquarters in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
“That Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji of APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” Prof. Oladiji declared on Sunday morning.
The APC candidate polled a total of 319,224 votes to beat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dr Wole Oluyede, who scored 40,543 votes to take a distant second position.
The candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ambassador Dare Bejide, who garnered 12,872 votes came third.
The results for other political parties showed that candidate of the APP scored 61 votes, PRP 163, YPP 98, NNPP 35, AAC 195, Accord 564, AA 126, APM 59, ZLP 113, LP 276, SDP 179, ADP 1269.
Responding, Governor Oyebanji who promised to serve the people of the state better than before, said, “I have a proper understanding of the responsibility that is placed on our shoulder. The responsibility of service, continuous service to the people and I assure the people that I will serve them, with courage, with compassion, with humility and with the fear of God.
“So they should continue to expect better service from us as we go home in the first term and as we prepare for the second term,” he stataed.
The governor, who stated that he has his job cut out for him, said he will be guided by the 30-year Development Plan of the State.
“We will continue to implement the plan, we can’t depart from it, but if there are issues to bring on board, we will reveal it so, they should just expect a very detailed implementation of the 30-year development plan,” he said.
