The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Biodun Oyebanji, as the winner of the 2022 Ekiti State gubernatorial election.

Oyebanji polled 187,057 votes to defeat his two closest challengers – Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Bisi Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

SDP came second in the election with 82,211 while PDP occupied the third position with 67,457 votes.

The Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, who is the Vice Chancellor, the University of Ibadan, announced the results in the early hours of Sunday.

“Oyebanji, having scored the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner and returned elected as the governor-elect of Ekiti State,” Adebowale declared.

Oyebanji, a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), is now set to replace the incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi, in October.

The agent of SDP, Owoseeni Ajayi, however, refused to sign the forms for the votes cast, while the agent of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) said: “Instead of having polling centres, what we have in Ekiti are vote-buying centres.”

The election, which was marred with reports of vote-buying and violence, was rated peaceful and independent by observers.

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The operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested some persons alleged to have engaged in vote-buying in the governorship election.

The EFCC operatives, who were part of security operatives deployed to monitor the election, arrested some vote buyers with wads of cash and books containing details of voters.

Earlier, the SDP governorship candidate, Segun Oni, alleged that voters were induced with money in Ado-Ekiti, and Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

Oni made the allegation while speaking to newsmen shortly after casting his vote at Polling Unit 010, Ifaki-Ekiti, his hometown.

Also speaking, the ADP governorship candidate, Kemi Elebute-Halle, alleged vote-buying by other political parties in the gubernatorial election.

Elebute-Halle, who is the only female candidate in the election, alleged that the APC, PDP, and SDP were buying votes with N10,000, N5,000, and N3,000 respectively.

The Star had reported that a resident of Ado-Ekiti, identified as Musa Faruk, said some suspected political agents distributed between N10,000 and N12,000 to the voters who agreed to vote for their preferred governorship candidate.

Details later…

The Star