Abiodun of the APC defeats Adebutu and wins reelection as governor of Ogun.

Dapo Abiodun, the governor of Ogun State, has won reelection for a second four-year term.

In the Ogun State governorship election held on March 18, 2023, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, the state returning officer for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), pronounced the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate the victor.

Ladi Adebutu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 262,383 votes, and Biyi Otegbeye of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), who received 94,754 votes and is supported by former governor and current APC senator Ibikunle Amosun, were Abiodun’s closest competitors.

Adebowale proclaimed Abiodun Adedapo Oluseun of the APC the winner and returned the result, saying that he had complied with all legal procedures.

On Saturday, elections for governor were held in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states. A court case compelled INEC to bring the gubernatorial and state assembly elections forward, which resulted in them taking place a week later than originally planned.

Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun, and Ondo are eight of the 36 states that have “off-season” governorship elections because of legal disputes and court rulings.

The 28 states that held governorship elections on March 18 are: Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.

17 outgoing governors, who were inaugurated in on May 29, 2015, are in the final weeks of their constitutional two-term limits of eight years, while 11 serving governors, including Abiodun, sought reelection.