INEC drops PDP candidate from Ekiti gov race

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has excluded the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Wole Oluyede, from the list of contestants cleared for the June 20, 2026, governorship election in Ekiti State.

The list, released on Monday and displayed at the INEC office in Ado-Ekiti, features the governorship candidates and their running mates from 12 political parties participating in the election.

Those cleared include Opeyemi Falegan of the Accord Party; Akande Oluwasegun (African Action Congress); Ayodeji Ojo (Action Democratic Party); Oluwadare Bejide (African Democratic Congress); incumbent Governor Biodun Oyebanji (All Progressives Congress); and Bidemi Awogbemi (Action People’s Party).

Also on the list are Joseph Anifowose (Allied People’s Movement), Oyebanji Olajuyin (Labour Party), Blessing Abegunde (New Nigeria People’s Party), Olaniyi Ayodele (People’s Redemption Party), Owoola Daramola (Young Progressive Party) and Victor Adetunji (Zenith Labour Party).

However, Oluyede, a medical practitioner who emerged as the PDP’s governorship candidate in November, was conspicuously absent from the list.

Oluyede had polled 279 votes to defeat Funso Ayeni, who scored 239 votes, in a primary election conducted by the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) aligned with Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde.

The development is linked to the lingering leadership crisis rocking the opposition party, which has split the PDP into rival factions. One faction is backed by Governors Makinde and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, while the other is aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

Last week, INEC declined to recognise the NWC chaired by Kabiru Turaki, which enjoys the support of the Makinde/Mohammed bloc.

The commission said its decision was based on subsisting court judgments, stressing that it would not update its records to reflect any change in the PDP’s national leadership until all legal disputes arising from the party’s national convention held in Ibadan in November are resolved.