The Bellwether State

The manner in which Ekiti’s June 2022 governorship election unfolded could foreshadow Nigeria's 2023 presidential election.

Written by Adekunle Adewumi

Jul 6, 2022

Photography by BiodunOyebanji / TWITTER

Following a protracted legal battle that lasted 41 months, on October 15, 2010, an appeal court panel led by Justice Ayo Salami unanimously declared Dr. Kayode Fayemi as the governor of Ekiti State. Fayemi immediately replaced Segun Oni, who had been in office since May 29, 2007. An earlier decision of the Supreme Court in June 2007, which reinstated Peter Obi as governor of Anambra state, established that a governor’s four-year term begins the day he takes the oath of office. A combination of these two rulings, meant that Ekiti should not have held a governorship election during the 2011 general election cycle. It also meant that Ekiti had unknowingly joined a list of states where governors, having secured their mandate through the court process, were now to conduct off-cycle elections.

Inadvertently, this change in Ekiti’s election schedule has led to Ekiti’s being one of two governorship elections (the second being Osun State’s) held immediately before the general elections. Most recently, the Ekiti governorship election held last month reignited rivalries between familiar political adversaries—and, incidentally, former governors. While this was the first election in 20 years that neither Fayemi nor Ayodele Fayose were on the ballot, they were well-represented by the candidates they backed. On one hand, Governor-elect Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was Governor Fayemi’s immediate past secretary to the state government. On the other hand, former state People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chairman, Bisi Kolawole, contested for PDP.

In both 2015 and 2019, the timing of Ekiti’s governorship elections had unintended consequences during the general elections. As the first election on the long road to the 2023 election, and following APC’s victory, can one of Nigeria’s smallest states tell us anything about what to expect in 2023?

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About the Author

Adekunle Adewumi

is a lawyer and political analyst who is dedicated to documenting Nigeria's political history.

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The Bellwether State