Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has been declared winner of the Saturday’s 18th March 2023 governorship election held in the state and thereby returned elected.
INEC returning officer, Professor Adedayo Bamire of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, declared Makinde winner of the election after polling 563, 756 votes to defeat Folarin who garnered 256, 685 votes to claim second position while the Accord Party candidate, Adebayo Adelabu trailed behind the two of them with 38, 357 votes.
According to the results as announced by the INEC, the ruling PDP won in 32 local government areas with over 558, 000 votes while APC won in only one. The returning officer broke down the results of the party candidates as follows:
Accord Party: 38, 357
APC : 256,685
PDP: 563, 756
It would be recalled that media speculation during electioneering indicated that the race would be keenly contested while the result would be very close. However, the incumbent Makinde won with a very wide margin, leaving his two main challengers trailing very far behind
The returning officer eventually said Makinde was the winner of the election and therefore declared him returned.