The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Governor Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the Ekiti state governorship election held on Saturday.
The declaration was made in the early hours of Sunday by Prof. Adenike Oladiji, the returning officer for the election at the state collation centre in Ado-Ekiti.
Announcing the final result, Oladiji said Oyebanji satisfied the constitutional requirements for election after securing the highest number of valid votes cast in the poll.
According to the results released by the commission, the APC candidate garnered 319,224 votes, defeating Olumayokun Oluyede, his closest challenger of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 40,533 votes.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Dare Bejide, secured 12,872 votes.
The election outcome reflected a strong performance by the incumbent governor, who emerged victorious in all 16 local government areas of the state.
INEC data showed that 988,251 voters were registered for the election, while 384,940 were accredited to participate in the exercise.
A total of 382,109 votes were cast, out of which 375,777 were declared valid.
