The last Ekiti State governorship election was held on June 18, 2022, and won by the incumbent, Governor Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Oyebanji, a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), defeated other party candidates to win the coveted seat. With less than a year until the end of his first tenure, the contest for the governorship position is almost due.
Early this year, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fixed June 20, 2026, for the conduct of the state election. According to the INEC’s timetable, political parties are expected to elect their candidates through shadow elections between October 20 and November 10, 2025.
With the electoral body’s deadline for the conduct of the primary election to elect party candidates less than two weeks away, only a few political parties in the state have aspirants signifying their intentions to run for the election. The ruling APC and the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have scheduled their primary elections for October 27 and November 8, 2025, respectively. However, some of the political parties will be heading into the primaries amid major internal wrangling at the national level.
Parties And Their Aspirants
In the ruling APC, four persons registered their intention to vie for the governorship position on the party’s platform. They are Governor Oyebanji, who is seeking a second term in office; Engr. Kayode Ojo; and two female aspirants: Atinuke Omolayo and Abimbola Olawumi. The aspirants obtained their APC expression of interest and nomination forms from the national headquarters of the party in Abuja and were screened in September.
Oyebanji and Omolayo were cleared by the Hon. Raheem Olawuyi-led screening committee for the primary. Ojo was granted provisional clearance, but Olawumi was disqualified on the grounds of failing to provide evidence of being a financially up-to-date member of the party, in line with Article 9(1) of the APC Constitution and Section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Ojo was later disqualified from contesting the primary election by the National Working Committee of the party due to petitions against him, particularly his failure to satisfy the mandatory threshold of five valid nominators per local government. The APC national leadership subsequently announced its decision to drop the direct mode earlier indicated and adopt the consensus mode for the conduct of the October 27 governorship primary election. Omolayo, who was cleared alongside Governor Oyebanji by the screening committee, later voluntarily withdrew from the contest.
In the PDP, despite its national leadership crisis, some aspirants came forward to seek the party’s ticket. The aspirants are Australia-based medical doctor, Dr. Wole Oluyede; former Commissioner for Works, Mrs. Funmilayo Ogun; aviation expert, Otunba Peter Obafemi; Funso Ayeni; and Otunba Emmanuel Fayose, a younger brother of former Governor Ayo Fayose.
Oluyede, Ogun, Ayeni, and Obafemi obtained the PDP governorship expression of interest and nomination forms. But Fayose, in September, resigned his membership of PDP, citing the party’s lack of direction and ceaseless internal wrangling both at the state and national levels. He later pitched his tent with the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The caretaker chairman of PDP in the state, Chief Dare Adeleke, confirmed that the four aforementioned PDP governorship aspirants have been cleared by the party screening committee for the shadow election. He, however, disclosed that the aspirants were supposed to be five but one of them was disqualified from participating in the election for a reason he didn’t mention.
The PDP chairman assured that the party’s primary will be seamless and rancour-free. “In our party, we always have one kind of unison, and that is what we are going to preach. We are going to preach consensus, if it doesn’t work, we go into the election and whoever wins will be embraced by all as the party candidate going into the election proper,” he said.
For the ADC, there are six aspirants in the race for the governorship ticket. They are former Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and former Nigerian Ambassador to Canada, Chief Dare Bajide; Prof. Olumuyiwa Babalola; Barr. Babafemi Adegbite; Mr. Ayodele David Adesua; Prince Adeyinka Alli and Fayose, who joined from the PDP.
The Vice Chairman of ADC in the state, Chief Dare Adekolu, said the party’s primary election will take place very soon with the approval from the national office of the party. Adekolu stated that the party’s expression of interest and nomination forms will be out for the willing aspirants to obtain in preparation for the shadow election.
A former Deputy Governor and former PDP’s 2018 governorship candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola Eleka, is likely to join the race on ADC’s platform. He is the ADC coordinator in the state.
The SDP chairman in Ekiti State, Mr. Bamkole Ayodele, said the party presently has three notable governorship aspirants vying for its ticket. The governorship aspirants, according to him, are the former Ekiti Central Senatorial candidate, Chief David Olusesan Arowolo; former party state secretary, Engr. Oludele Bankole; and Hon. Ben Olaniyi Agboola.
Bankole was the party’s governorship candidate in 2022, who offered the ticket to former Governor Segun Oni, who represented the party in the last governorship poll.
On when the party primary will be held, the SDP chair said, “The party governorship primary elections, according to the INEC timetable, are to be conducted between October 20 and November 10. “But we cannot do anything without the directive from the national headquarters of our party, which has the final say on every issue, so we are waiting for them to determine when the primary will be conducted,” he added.
The Ekiti State NNPP chairman, Chief Adelusi Ayeni, said the party is well prepared to conduct its primary election with two governorship aspirants in line to contest the shadow election coming up on November 8.
The aspirants are Prof. Adebayo Williams from Emure Ekiti, presently a Deputy Vice Chancellor of a university in Ede, Osun State, and Hon. Blessing Abegunde from Isinbode Ekiti.
Meanwhile, INEC’s Head of Voter Education and Publicity (VEP) in Ekiti State, Mrs. Adenike Aribisala, said the commission is ready to monitor the exercises by the parties. She said, “We have an electoral party monitoring department, saddled with the responsibility of monitoring primary and congresses of the political parties. “What I know is that we are prepared and whenever they are ready, as an electoral body in the state, we are also ready,” she said.
Issues Within
In the ruling APC, Governor Oyebanji enjoys the backing and support of the majority of the party members, leaders, and other stakeholders, especially the former governors and National Assembly members.
For some analysts, it is a rare feat in the state to have the governor enjoying the support of virtually all the former governors in the state, even those in the opposition. From Niyi Adebayo, Segun Oni, to Fayose and Kayode Fayemi, these former governors have all aligned with Oyebanji ahead of 2026.
While he also enjoys the backing of the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, under his watch, former Senate Minority Leader Senator Biodun Olujimi joined the APC.
Despite claims by some party members that their names and those of their loyalists are being removed from the party register ahead of the primary election, the governor’s base in the party remains solid.
For the PDP members in the state, the unresolved national leadership crisis is still a source of concern to the loyalists, which according to them, may adversely affect the chances of the party in the 2026 election.
Also, the legal battle among factional leaders of PDP in the state over the conduct of local government and state congress is still a big challenge which has become a clog in the wheel of progress of the party.
The unveiling of ADC in the state, in July, saw many bigwigs of the APC, PDP, LP, and others rallying behind the party. However, sources within the party claim that moles are working against the interests of the party.
For SDP, many party loyalists blame the dwindling popularity of the party in the state on the defection of one of the two members of the State House of Assembly to the ruling APC. More so, with former Governor Oni’s detachment from SDP and his support for Oyebanji, the party has lost its vibrancy. At the national level, the leadership crisis has not helped the party’s fortunes.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP Weekend, a lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Ekiti State University (EKSU) Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Dr. Oladeji Olayide said it is important for every member of all political parties to be involved in the governorship primaries of their parties. Olayide said, irrespective of the mode to be adopted in conducting the shadow election, all members must be allowed to participate in the exercise.
According to him, “Normally, there is what we call intra-party or internal party democracy. All party members are to be carried along and participate in the exercise. But what is necessary is that, whatever mode is adopted in the conduct of the primary election, whether direct or indirect, it must be seen to be transparent and credible.”
A public affairs analyst, Elder Ayo Arogundade, told LEADERSHIP Weekend in Ado-Ekiti, that each party in the state and its leadership should give room for internal democracy.
Arogundade said all party members must be allowed to have a say in who becomes the flag bearer of their political party, either through direct primary, delegate system, or by consensus.
He, however, called on all politicians, irrespective of their political affiliations, to conduct themselves peacefully before, during, and after the exercise.
“They should not do it in a way that will cause a lot of violence in the town and the state at large. What should be their concern is the quality of the candidate that emerges and the general election. The Ekiti will pick from them whoever they want in the June 20, 2026 governorship election.
“This should not cause commotion and unnecessary anxiety. It is not a general election, even though such shouldn’t happen during the general election. I want to encourage all politicians across political parties to conduct primaries democratically and civilly. There shouldn’t be any imposition,” he said.
