Ekiti State

Ekiti State is in Southwest region of Nigeria, declared a state on 1 October 1996 alongside five other states in the country by the then military government under head of state, General Sani Abacha. As one of the newest states of the Nigerian federation, it was carved out of the territory of old Ondo State, and covers the former 12 local government areas that made up the Ekiti Zone of old Ondo State. On creation, it had 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs), having had an additional four carved out of the old ones. Ekiti State is one of the 36 states (inc. Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria)) that constitute Nigeria.[3]

Following a prolonged political crisis, President Olusegun Obasanjo imposed a military administrator (General Tunji Olurin) on Ekiti State in October 2006.[4] On 27 April 2007, Olurin was replaced by Tope Ademiluyi. In the PDP primary of 2006, the first-place finisher Yinka Akerele and second-place finisher Prof. Adesegun Ojo were supposed to be in a run-off to determine who would be the nominee of the Nigerian ruling party when President Obasanjo summoned them to Abuja and imposed the candidate who came third, Engineer Segun Oni.[3] He was later elected in the 2007 election as the governor of the state in an election marred by widespread irregularities although the APC candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi challenged his election and forced a rerun in May, 2009.[5]

The May 2009 rerun was characterized by even worse rigging and the election was disputed again. Eventually, after three years, the election of Oni was thrown out and Dr. Fayemi was declared the duly elected governor of Ekiti State.[6]

The prominent private university in Ekiti State is Afe Babalola University, Ado–Ekiti[7] (ABUAD), founded by the lawyer, philanthropist, administrator, and farmer Afe Babalola, #SAN.[8]