The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Dayo Faduyile of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of Saturday’s Ondo South senatorial district by-election.
Gbenga Solomon-Ibileye, the INEC returning officer and vice-chancellor of Federal University Lokoja, announced the result on Sunday at the collation centre in Okitipupa LGA, Ondo State.
According to Solomon-Ibileye, Faduyile secured the highest number of votes with 68,474 to clinch victory in the election.
He said Adeolu Akinwunmi of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) came second with 1,411 votes, while Adesanya Olaoluwa of the Action People’s Party (APP) and Clement Funso-Nejo of the Boot Party (BP) garnered 213 and 70 votes respectively.
A total of 70,770 votes were cast in the election, with 602 votes declared invalid.
Mutiu Agboke, the resident electoral commissioner (REC), described the election as a test run ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Agboke said the challenges observed during the exercise would help the commission improve preparations for future polls.
“The results of the election reflected the people’s voice and thank God that all INEC staff who went to the riverine came back safely with no negative report anywhere,” he said.
The by-election was conducted across six local government areas — Okitipupa, Ilaje, Ese-Odo, Irele, Odigbo, and Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo.
The senatorial seat became vacant following the appointment of Jimoh Ibrahim as Nigeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations.