The Saturday governorship election in Ekiti State, a South Western state of the country has come and gone, leaving winners and losers. The position of the next governor of Ekiti State was won by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC`s) candidate, Biodun Oyebanji.

However, as it is usually said success has so many relations. On the other hand, the Social Democratic Party`s candidate, Engr Segun Oni who place second, as well as the People`s Democratic Party (PDP) whose candidate, Bisi Kolawole came third in the election are “now licking their wounds” according to Senator Ahmed Bola TInubu.

All parties will now return to the drawing board as they prepare for the big game in February 2023 – the presidential election where some of the political parties will once again slog it out at the polls to decide who succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.

The parties that got something right in the Saturday poll in Ekiti State will seek to repeat or improve on what they got right. Those who failed will review their failed strategies. They will also work to change what did not work going into the presidential election.

The Ekiti governorship election was adjudged a great improvement in what we have seen in the past in elections conducted by the current INEC leadership. If anything there was no issue of inconclusive election. This gives hope that the country may be in for something better in 2023.

The people of Ekiti State were the heroes of the electoral process and they confirmed this with their massive turnout at the polling centers to cast their votes.  The voters did not only turn out in their numbers, but also made it very early to the polls.

INEC also upped their game by uploading results from the local governments online as the results were coming. Same Saturday, just hours after the close of polls, results from nine local government areas in the state were already successfully uploaded on the result portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Clariform reporter visited the INEC portal at about 8:30 pm on Saturday and confirmed the results from 9 local government areas. This included results from  – Ekiti East, Ekiti South West, Ilejemeje, Irepodun/Ifelodun, Moba, Ido-Osi, Efon, Gbonyin and Emure local government areas.

As the results trickled in, the edge the APC candidate had over all the other candidates began to emerge clearer. The All Progressives Congress`s candidate, Biodun Oyebanji started taking an early lead, giving glimpse of how the final results could be.

Most major candidates in the Ekiti election won their polling units. The APC candidate, Oyebanji secured 296 votes to come top in polling unit 003, ward 06, Ikogosi, Ekiti West LGA where he voted.

He also floored his closest rivals in his polling unit. The PDP candidate, Bisi Kolawole, secured only one vote, while Engr Segun Oni, the SDP candidate could not secure even a single vote.

The SDP candidate however, beat other candidates in his own polling unit. Engr Segun Oni, voted at his polling unit in Ido-Osi LGA where he won with 218 votes to beat other contestants.

However, the candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Kemi Elebute-Halle, was beating in her own polling unit by the candidate of the APC. The APC candidate secured 47 votes against her 32 votes. She voted at polling unit eight, ward 10, Ikole local government area of the state. The candidate of the SDP, Egnr Oni scored 39, while Kolawole got 21.

Recall that the ADP candidate had earlier in the day, just after voting in her polling unit raised the alarm that the major political parties in the election – the APC, PDP and SDP were engaging in vote buying.

She alleged that the APC was paying as much as N10,000 per vote, while PDP was paying N5,000, and N3,000 by the SDP.

She made this disclosure while speaking to a local media, but Clariform reporters could not independently confirm this.

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BREAKING: INEC returning officer announces results of Ekiti gubernatorial election

INEC Returning Officer for the Ekiti governorship election has announced final result of the polls within 24 hours of the end of balloting, representing a great fit for the electoral body.

The governorship candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Biodun Oyebanji has won the Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State.

He defeated the candidates of the candidate of the People`s Democratic Party (PDP), Bisi Kolawole, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Segun Oni and 13 other candidates.

In the final results announced by the Chief Returning Officer for INEC, Professor Kayode Adebowale, the Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan, the APC candidate was declared the winner with victory in 15 local government areas of the state.

The APC candidate pulled a total of 187,057 votes to defeat his closest rival, Chief Segun Oni of the SDP who scored 82,211.

While the PDP`s Bisi Kolawole came third with total votes tally of 67,457 votes, with victory in only one local government areas in the state.

Accredited voters in the election were 363,438 out of which 351865 were considered valid votes after the poll. The total registered voters in Ekiti State is 989,224.

The APC candidate won in, with the PDP candidate winning in the remaining one council area of the state.