Ekiti guber poll: Oyebanji emerges APC consensus candidate
Governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State has officially emerged as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the 2026 governorship election, following his unanimous adoption through a popular voice vote on Monday.
The affirmation, conducted at the Ekiti State Pavilion (Ekiti Parapo) along the new Iyin Road in Ado-Ekiti, saw a total of 885 delegates drawn from the 177 electoral wards across the 16 local government areas echo their support for the governor’s candidacy.
Opeyemi Bamidele, the Senate Leader moved the motion for Oyebanji’s adoption as the party’s consensus candidate, which was seconded by Adeoye Aribasoye, the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly,
With this development, Oyebanji becomes the first sitting governor under the APC banner in Ekiti to secure the party’s nomination back-to-back since the return of democracy in 1999.
Usman Ododo, the chairman of the APC Affirmation Congress Committee and Governor of Kogi State, who supervised the process, said the consensus decision was a collective agreement within the party, aimed at consolidating ongoing developmental strides in the state.
“I can inform this gathering that the decision by our great party to adopt Oyebanji is not a product of imposition, but a way to allow the good works that the APC government in Ekiti has been doing, and so far recorded, to continue,” Ododo said.
Earlier, the national chairman of the APC, Nentawe Yilwatda, had inaugurated an 11-man Consensus Committee to oversee the process.
The committee, chaired by Governor Ododo and deputised by his Edo State counterpart, Monday Okpebholo, was mandated to affirm Oyebanji as the party’s sole candidate for the 2026 governorship poll.
Represented by Chidi Duru, the deputy national organising secretary, Yilwatda commended the peaceful conduct of the delegates’ election held on Saturday and lauded Oyebanji’s leadership style, which he said has endeared him to the people. He urged party members to maintain unity and decorum before and after the primary.
In his acceptance speech, Oyebanji expressed deep appreciation to President Bola Tinubu, the APC National Working Committee, the National Assembly caucus from Ekiti, former Governors Niyi Adebayo and Kayode Fayemi, and other stakeholders for their support.
“I hereby accept this honour to fly the flag of our great party in the next year’s gubernatorial election, and I will never take this honour for granted,” he said.
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“This is historic, in the sense that this is the first time any ruling party would be doing this for any of its governors in power. Be rest assured that this gesture will not go unappreciated.
“To my opponents in the race, be assured that there is no victor nor vanquished. We are in the race together, and the party belongs to all of us. Please, let’s come together to lift Ekiti, as I am ever ready to embrace everyone, without segregation.
“I plead that all forms of character assassination, cyberbullying, and abuses on social media should stop,” he added.
