Governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State has officially emerged as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for next year’s gubernatorial election.
The governor secured the nomination through a voice vote supported by 885 delegates elected across the 177 electoral wards in the state’s 16 Local Government Areas.
The adoption ceremony was held on Monday at the Ekiti State Pavilion along the new Iyin Road in Ado-Ekiti and was conducted via consensus.
The exercise began with Senate Leader Michael Opeyemi Bamidele moving the motion for Oyebanji’s nomination as the consensus candidate, which was seconded by the incumbent Speaker of the Ekiti State Assembly, Adeoye Aribasoye.
With this, Oyebanji became the first APC governor in the state to secure the party’s nomination consecutively since the start of the current democratic dispensation.
In his opening address, Kogi State Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo, who also chairs the Affirmation Congress Committee, described the consensus adoption as an internal party decision free of external influence.
“The decision by our great party to adopt Oyebanji is not a product of imposition but a way to allow the good works of the APC government in Ekiti to continue,” he said.
Earlier, APC National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda inaugurated an 11-member Consensus Committee for the primary election in the state. Chaired by Governor Ododo and deputised by Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo, the committee supervised Oyebanji’s affirmation as the party’s sole candidate for the 2026 gubernatorial poll.
Speaking at the party secretariat in Ado-Ekiti, Yilwatda, represented by Deputy National Organising Secretary Nze Chidi Duru, commended the delegates’ poll conducted on Saturday and praised Oyebanji’s leadership for endearing him to the people. He also called on delegates to maintain peace before and after the consensus election.
In his acceptance speech, Oyebanji expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu, party leaders, Senate Leader Bamidele, the Ekiti National Assembly caucus, current and former governors including Niyi Adebayo and Kayode Fayemi, and all party members.
“I hereby accept this honour to fly the flag of our great party in next year’s gubernatorial election. This is historic, as it is the first time a ruling party has done this for a sitting governor in power. Be assured this gesture will not go unappreciated.
“To my opponents, there is no victor nor vanquished. The party belongs to all of us. Let us come together to lift Ekiti. I am ready to embrace everyone without segregation and appeal that all forms of character assassination, cyberbullying, and abuses on social media must stop.”
