Ekiti Gov. Election: Parties Pick Candidates

By Ayodele Oni

The coast is getting clearer for the next year’s governorship election in Ekiti state as candidates that will fly the flags of political parties are emerging.

As at the last count, six political parties have picked candidates for the election to beat the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deadline.

According to the timetable and guidelines released by INEC, political parties have the window between October 20 and November 10, 2025 to conduct their governorship primaries ahead of the June 20, 2026 election.

Less than 24 hours to the expiration of the deadline, only six political parties have unveiled their candidates for the election.

They are the All Progressives Congress (APC) which picked the incumbent Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) which elected Dare Bejide.

Others are the Accord Party, (AP),Opeyemi David Falegan, the New Nigeria Democratic, (NNDP), Blessing Abegunde; People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), Oluwole Oluyede and the Social Democratic Party, (SDP), Adedayo Alade.

Following the lingering crisis within the PDP, a faction loyal t minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesome Wike, headed by Abdulrahman Mohammed, as acting chairman, had earlier announced the postponement of the primary election from last Saturday.

In a counter move, the state chairman of PDP, Tunji Odeyeni insisted that the primary election would hold as earlier scheduled.

Odeyeni in a statement, few hours to the exercise maintained that PDP in Ekiti State was fully prepared to hold its State Congress this Saturday, November 8, to elect the party’s flag bearer for the June 20, 2026 Governorship Election.

According to Odeyemi, all necessary arrangements had been concluded to ensure that the exercise is transparent, peaceful, and credible.