★ "Ekiti-Gate" Vote-Buying Scandal (2014)#
The June 2014 Ekiti gubernatorial election is followed weeks later by a leaked audio recording — dubbed "Ekiti-Gate" — in which senior PDP figures (then Minister of State for Defence Musiliu Obanikoro, Iyiola Omisore) and a serving military officer (then Brig.-Gen. Aliyu Momoh, GOC 2 Mechanised Division) are heard coordinating cash distribution and federal-army deployments to secure Ayodele Fayose's election against incumbent Kayode Fayemi (APC). The recording — released in 2015 by SaharaReporters — triggered EFCC inquiries, freezes on Fayose's accounts (Oct 2018), and an 11-count, ₦6.9 billion money-laundering charge filed at the Federal High Court, Lagos on Fayose's exit from office. Partial judgment as of 2024, residual counts pending — a reference precedent in Nigerian electoral malpractice jurisprudence.
Fayose accounts freeze and EFCC trial (2018 — ongoing)#
EFCC freezes Fayose's Zenith Bank accounts (₦1.2 bn) on 16 Oct 2018; arraignment at FHC Lagos 22 Oct 2018; bail granted; no-case submission rejected 2022. Trial continuing as of 2024 — among the longest-running gubernatorial corruption trials in the Fourth Republic.
2018 & 2022 Ekiti governorship — federal-might and vote-buying market#
The 14 July 2018 election (won by Kayode Fayemi) is contested as militarised; PDP alleges federal-army intimidation; tribunal upholds Fayemi. The 2022 election (won by Biodun Oyebanji, APC) is documented by independent observers (YIAGA Africa, CDD, EU EOM) with cash-for-vote transactions at ₦5,000–₦15,000 per voter as the new baseline — Ekiti as the national case-study for electoral integrity failure.