By More than a month after Ekiti voters returned Governor Biodun Oyebanji to office, the Supreme Court has closed the door on the last legal challenge to his candidacy, and the state APC wasted no time celebrating.
The apex court, sitting unanimously on Friday, dismissed an appeal filed by APC governorship aspirant Abimbola Olawunmi, who had contested the outcome of the party primary that produced Oyebanji as its candidate. The ruling upheld earlier decisions from both the High Court and the Court of Appeal, both of which had already sided with the governor before the matter escalated to the Supreme Court.
The party’s state chapter, in a statement issued by Publicity Secretary Segun Dipe, framed the judgment as more than a legal technicality, describing it as an affirmation of internal democracy, the rule of law, and the collective will of Ekiti APC members. The statement urged party stakeholders to treat the verdict as a moment for unity rather than triumphalism, and to rally behind the governor’s ongoing development agenda.
That framing lands against the backdrop of an election that was, by most measures, a landslide. Oyebanji secured 319,224 votes to win re-election, more than seven times the 40,543 votes polled by his closest rival, the PDP’s Wole Oluyede, according to INEC’s final collation announced by INEC’s Chief Returning Officer, Adenike Oladiji, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure. The win made Oyebanji the first governor in Ekiti State’s history to secure re-election immediately after completing a first term, a milestone the state APC has repeatedly pointed to as validation of his first-term record.
The victory was not without its wrinkles, however. Turnout was notably low: only 36.07 per cent of the state’s more than one million registered voters turned out to vote, one of the lowest participation rates ever recorded in an Ekiti governorship election. That detail has fed into broader commentary about voter apathy in the state even as the APC leadership highlights the scale of Oyebanji’s margin.
In its statement, the party went further than simply welcoming the ruling, it used the moment to build a character narrative around the governor, praising his composure through months of litigation. It credited him with prioritising governance over distraction, development over bitterness, and inclusion over division throughout the legal fight, arguing that neither the primary win, the general election landslide, nor the Supreme Court’s endorsement had changed his temperament.
The APC also extended thanks to the judiciary for what it called the protection of due process, and credited President Bola Tinubu and the party’s National Working Committee for their support throughout the litigation.
With the Supreme Court ruling now final, Oyebanji’s path into a second term is legally unchallenged, though the low turnout that accompanied his landslide victory may remain a talking point as the state heads deeper into his new term.
