APC Wins Ekiti Governorship, Five Assembly Seats, NDC In Fresh Deregistration Crisis

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday, the first day of last week, 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 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.

Results for the other political parties showed that the APP candidate scored 61 votes; PRP, 163; YPP, 98; NNPP, 35; AAC, 195; Accord, 564; AA, 126; APM, 59; ZLP, 113; LP, 276; SDP, 179; and ADP, 1,269.

In his reaction to the declaration, Governor Oyebanji promised to serve the people better than before.

He said, “I have a proper understanding of the responsibility that has been placed on our shoulders. It is the responsibility of service—continuous service to the people—, and I assure them that I will serve with courage, compassion, humility and the fear of God.”

However, the ADC governorship candidate, Dare Bejide, rejected the outcome, describing the exercise as lacking credibility.

Speaking with journalists in Ado-Ekiti, Bejide alleged that the election was fraught with irregularities.

Also, the PDP candidate, Dr Wole Oluyede, accused the APC of using vote-buying and intimidation to win the election.

Oluyede, speaking through his Special Adviser on Media, Gani Salau, said vote-trading played a significant role in the election’s outcome.

However, 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, including the Rivers South East senatorial district.

For Enugu North, the APC candidate, Asogwa Ikeje Israel, emerged the winner; for Nasarawa North, Danladi Envulu-Anza of the APC won the by-election; and the ruling party’s candidate, Dayo Faduyile, clinched the Ondo South senatorial seat, while PDP’s Olaka Nwogu won the Rivers South-east contest.

Also, Rabiu Shuaibu of the APC was declared the winner of the by-election in Dawaki Kudu/Warawa federal constituency of Kano state, while the party’s candidate, Rabiu Aiki, won the Zuru state constituency seat.

President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has sworn in the four newly elected senators -Asogwa(APC, Enugu), Envulu-Anza(APC, Nasarawa North), Faduyile(APC, Ondo South) and Nwogu(PDP, Rivers South East).

On the other hand, the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), has been engulfed in fresh crisis of deregistration as the Federal High Court, Lokoja set aside an earlier ruling that compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the party.

The court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Isah Dashen, nullified the 10 December 2025 ruling that directed INEC to register the NDC, following an application by the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which argued that it was not joined to the original proceedings despite having a legal interest in the matter.

The judge held that all parties with vested interests ought to have been given the opportunity to participate in the case and consequently ordered that the matter be heard afresh with the relevant parties properly joined.

But the opposition party at a press conference in Abuja ona Friday, addressed by its National Chairman, Sen. Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, rejected the ruling and vowed to appeal it on Monday.

Zuwoghe assured the general public, particularly the party’s candidates at all levels, that NDC is on course.

He stressed that the NDC had not been deregistered, and it is challenging to obtain an order at the Court of Appeal as soon as possible, expressing the belief that justice will be done.

“We condemn efforts by those who seek to shrink the democratic space and stifle opposition voices and alternatives. Nigerians have a right to a full range of opinions, ideas, and alternatives, and political platforms and candidates should be allowed to participate in the 2027 general election process, which has already gone midway.

“It is too late for anyone to attempt to use the judiciary to derail or narrow Nigeria’s multi-party democratic space. If the said association (Peace Movement Party) were a party affected by the judgment in our initial suit, the only option open to it was to appeal the verdict, which it did not take.

“Even at that, the window open for such appeal has since closed, and any such appeal by now has become statute-barred. To now try to upturn that verdict through the back door, via a motion, is not only unheard-of,  but also illegal and an outright abuse of court process,” the NDC national chairman added.

Meanwhile, the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led PDP faction presented certificates of return to the party’s cleared governorship candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Turaki, in his remarks at the event, said the party will contest elections in every constituency next year.

The factional PDP National Organising Secretary, Hon. Theophilus Dakas Shan, said the party has produced 28 governorship candidates, 109 senatorial candidates, 360 House of Representatives candidates, and 993 House of Assembly candidates, while additional primaries had been conducted for some outstanding constituencies.

Equally, the Nyesom Wike-backed PDP faction presented certificates of return to the governorship candidate at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting and inauguration of its 2026–2030 NEC members.

The meeting held at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja was presided over by the factional PDP National Chairman, Abdulrahman Mohammed.