The incumbent Governor of Ekiti State and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Biodun Oyebanji, has taken an early, commanding lead in the ongoing 2026 governorship election as early results begin to trickle in across the state.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Dare Bejide, failed to secure a victory at his own polling unit, losing it heavily to Governor Oyebanji.
At Bejide’s polling unit, the APC secured a landslide victory with 140 votes, while the ADC managed to gather only 37 votes. The African Action Congress trailed far behind with 3 votes, and the Peoples Democratic Party finished last at the unit with just 2 votes.
Governor Oyebanji also secured a dominant victory at his personal voting center, Polling Unit 003 in Ikogosi, Ekiti West Local Government Area, where he won 326 votes. In contrast, his ADC rival, Dare Bejide, scored only 2 votes at the governor’s unit, while the Action Democratic Party and the AAC received 1 vote each, alongside 3 voided ballots.
Across the state, the early results show the APC leading by a massive margin, with the PDP following behind and the ADC settling into third place.
The election features 1,059,360 registered voters across 2,445 polling units, which has largely turned into a three-way battle between Oyebanji, Bejide, and the PDP’s Wole Oluyede.
It was earlier reported that the polls were marred with widespread allegations of financial inducement. Earlier in the day, a team of about ten Economic and Financial Crimes Commission operatives had stormed Governor Oyebanji’s personal polling unit at 9:05 a.m. to monitor the environment, though no arrests were made there.
However, at Polling Unit 10, Ward B, in Iyin-Ekiti, angry voters fiercely resisted and chased away anti-graft officials who arrived to crack down on suspected vote-buying. The confrontational crowd insisted there was no financial malpractice at their station and forced the operatives to leave so that voting could continue uninterrupted.
Despite warnings from the Independent National Electoral Commission and anti-corruption bodies, widespread vote manipulation has been reported throughout the state. In Aramoko Ekiti, the hometown of the governor’s mother, multiple voters openly that party agents paid them 10,000 Naira each to vote for the ruling APC, according to Sahara Reporters.
Journalists monitoring the election also witnessed open cash transactions near voting booths, such as at Polling Unit 004 in Aramoko, where an APC agent offered 10,000 Naira for a pro-Oyebanji vote while an ADC representative countered with an offer of 2,000 Naira to support Bejide.