BY VICTORIA NGOZI IKEANO
victoriangozii@gmail.com 08033077519
 
Last weekend residents of Ekiti state in south west Nigeria trooped out to cast their votes in the governorship election. Results of that election bore some similarities with the Anambra state gubernatorial poll that was held towards end of last year, precisely, November, 2025. Both were off-cycle elections in which incumbent governors were contesting for re-election. That of Anambra was the first governorship election conducted under the watch of the new Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan. And the just concluded Ekiti poll is only the second to be overseen by him.
 
Both elections were generally peaceful as confirmed by both local and international observers.  They also recorded timely arrival and opening of polls overall.  Time was   when logistics was a headache for INEC with officials, voting materials and security personnel arriving hours behind schedule in many places. There used to be instances where voting extended well beyond dusk, into the night, forcing electoral officials to use torch lights for their work.  INEC appears to have tamed the reoccurring logistics problems to a large extent. Overall, accredited election observers gave our electoral umpire a pass mark in the conduct of both Anambra and Ekiti governorship polls and the results were considered a reflection of the electorates’  wishes. Although there were complaints of vote buying and selling in both states, none has been convicted as yet for that offence.
 
    And the results of both elections were no less similar.  Both incumbents won with landslides. Anambra state governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate garnered a whopping 71 per cent of the total votes cast while Governor ‘Biodun Abayomi  Oyebanji  got an amazing 83 per cent of them. With such massive votes they both made history as the first in their states to be re-elected with such wide margin.  They both won in all local governments in their states (Soludo in all 21 local government areas of Anambra and Oyebanji in all 16 local governments in Ekiti). Soludo won in all of Anambra’s wards except six of them, giving him 98 percent success in that regard while Oyebanji cleared all wards in Ekiti which translates to an excellent 100 percent success there.
 
Thus from whatever angle one analyses the results, absolute victory figures for both governors,  number of local governments in which they triumphed,  wards won, it was resounding victories for Governors Oyebanji (APC) and Soludo (APGA). They both left their opponents practically empty handed. They overwhelmed them. None   of those that competed with Soludo disputed the result by challenging it in court. Similarly, I do not expect fellow contestants to challenge Governor Oyebanji’s victory either, for their wins were as clear as crystal water.
 
Notwithstanding APGA and APC’s thumping success in these last two gubernatorial elections, voter turnout is cause for concern. In Anambra the figure was 21 per cent.  Even then this was a 100 percent increase over what obtained in November 2021 when Soludo first succeeded in his bid to be Anambra governor, taking over from then incumbent Chief Willie Obiano.  Voter turnout at that time was an embarrassing ten percent. The reason was not far-fetched. Agitators were insisting that elections would not hold in the south east region. A large number of  the voters stayed off polling units for fear of being attacked by what was generally referred in that part of our country then as “unknown gunmen”.  The contestants in 2021 could not campaign in the Ihiala axis, hotbed of the agitation. Soludo   the declared winner had only a little over 100,000 votes in all 21 local government areas of the state.  In Ekiti 2026, turnout was comparatively much higher than Anambra 2025, at 38 percent. I am using for my calculation figures given by INEC at close of the election which is, total registered voters 988,251; total accredited voters 383,940. 
 
Even if the voter turnout is 50 per cent, it is still not good enough as it means that as many as half of the  electorate did not vote for the winner.  Voter apathy is a nationwide problem.  Hundreds of thousands of persons with permanent voter’s card (PVC) actually do not turn up on Election Day. More and more people in recent years now endeavour to get PVC.  However, many people seek it essentially for identification purposes rather than for voting;  more so as a form of identification is required to open a bank account, buy a SIM card for communication with loved ones, friends and associates or to get a lost, damaged SIM replacement, etc . And the attraction is that getting a voter’s card is absolutely free in comparison to other means of identification like Driver’s licence, international passport and National Identification Number (NIN) card that require some amount of money to get them.
 
One common factor that contributed to the two governors’ massive victory was extensive campaigns that penetrated the grassroots. In Anambra the Executive (cabinet members, heads of ministries, departments and agencies  of government), the Legislature (APGA members in the state House of Assembly- they are in the majority) , Council chairmen (they are called Mayors in Anambra) in all 21 local government areas, Community leaders of all genres, were all deployed for the campaigns.  Same in Ekiti state. The result was that all nooks and crannies of both states were reached. 
 
Oyebanji had the benefit of former Ekiti governors (who are not members of his party) pitching their tent with him. Among them were former governor Ayodele Fayose (PDP member) and immediate past governor Fayemi who won the gubernatorial race under APC banner but now identifies more with ADC. Soludo did not have any such advantage per se. Two of the civilian governors that presided over Anambra affairs had passed on. The immediate past governor, Willie Obiano was/is not in the country; former governor Chris Ngige an APC member, was more or less neutral during the Anambra election while former governor Peter Obi, Labour party presidential candidate for the 2023 general election, supported and indeed campaigned for the Anambra governorship labour candidate.
 
Quite apart from support from influential persons and grassroots campaigns, another factor that worked significantly in Governor Oyebanji’s favour was his performance as attested by Ekiti residents. Although one could give Soludo a pass mark in terms of performance what contributed to his victory the most was lack of a strong  or popular opponent. His closest rival (the APC candidate) was not politically grounded in the state.
 
The PDP which used to hold sway in Anambra and which used to give a good account of itself in every poll in the state was missing in action in that governorship election. To all intent and purpose the PDP is dead in Anambra state and by extrapolation in the south east zone. This is regrettable because given the long years when it reigned supreme, its umbrella symbol and slogan was popular in most hamlets.
 
Whereas APC was the runner up in the Anambra election, PDP took that position in the Ekiti poll, both however, were a distant, distant second. Here are the details. Soludo (APGA) 422,664; Ukachukwu (APC) 98,445.  Oyebaji(APC) 319,244; Oluyede(PDP) 40,543.  A surprise in Ekiti was the ADC candidate losing his polling unit to APC. For Anambra the surprise was Peter Obi losing his own polling unit to the APC. There is a stark difference between the winners as  demonstrated post election. Whereas Oyebanji showed a warm disposition towards his rival by visiting Oluyede and promising to look into concerns raised by the PDP candidate during their closed door meeting, Soludo sought to rub salt into injury (loss) of the opposition by mocking them. Our leaders should always bear in mind that they are role models whom many people look up to. Hence, they should endeavour to be above board in their conducts. Their thoughts, speech and actions should be imbued with what is good and noble. LOVE for all ( friends and opponents alike) should be their watchword as also those of their followers.