Bejide accused the ruling APC of engaging in vote-buying through money and food distribution during the guber election.
By Kehinde Okeowo
The candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the recently concluded Ekiti State governorship election, Dare Bejide, has rejected the outcome of the poll.
He made his position known on Sunday in Ado-Ekiti while speaking after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the incumbent governor and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Biodun Oyebanji, as the winner of the off-cycle election.
Declaring the result, INEC’s Chief Returning Officer and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Professor Adenike Oladiji, noted that Oyebanji had defeated all other candidates.
She said: “I, Prof. Adenike Oladiji, hereby certify that I am the Returning Officer for the Ekiti State governorship election held on June 20, 2026.
”That Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner.”
Reacting to the pronouncement, the governor described his re-election as a reaffirmation of the people’s desire for continuity, peace, stability, and sustained development.
Oyebanji added: “This mandate means that our work must touch every household even deeper.”
However, while speaking on the outcome, Bejide described the election as lacking credibility and alleged that the exercise was conducted in ‘an atmosphere resembling a war zone’.
The ADC candidate accused the ruling party of engaging in vote-buying through money and food distribution.
Bejide said the government should have relied on its achievements rather than struggling to influence voters.
”My immediate reaction is to reject the result in its entirety because the exercise was not credible,’ he said.
He claimed some polling units, including his own, witnessed a tense atmosphere during the election.
”You all witnessed what happened. Some places were almost like a war zone,’ Bejide added.
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He alleged that political appointees and a serving senator had brought thugs and security personnel to the venues.
”In some places, it appeared the election was taking place only in my polling unit. It is a sad day for democracy,’ the ADC candidate stated.
Bejide further alleged that vote-buying was carried out openly at several polling units.
”Bags of money were brought to polling units, and enormous sums were spent,’ he claimed. He said such actions reflected poor performance by the government.
”If they had performed well, there would have been no need to rely on money,’ Bejide said.
The ADC candidate said he was still studying the election outcome before deciding his next move.
”I have not personally seen the full results; I have only heard reports on social media,’ he said.
He added that his team was collating available polling unit results.
”Once we receive and analyse everything, we will brief our party members,’ Bejide stated.
He said the party would decide on the appropriate course of action afterwards.
”At this stage, we are certainly not satisfied with the conduct of the election,’ he said.
Bejide urged his supporters and Ekiti residents to remain peaceful and calm.
“We are carefully studying the results and will know the appropriate steps to take,’ he added.
