Ekiti State is a state in southwest Nigeria, declared a state on October 1, 1996 alongside five others by the military under the dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. The state, carved out of the territory of old Ondo State, covers the former twelve local government areas that made up the Ekiti Zone of old Ondo State. On creation, it took off with sixteen (16) Local Government Areas (LGAs), having had an additional four carved out of the old ones. Ekiti State is one of the thirty-six states (Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria)) that constitute Nigeria. Ekiti State is reputed to have produced the highest number of professors in Nigeria. Several pioneers academics are from the state. Pioneers like Profs Adegoke Olubummo(1st Nigeria Professor in the field of Mathematics), Adeyinka Adeyemi(1st Professor of Architecture in West Africa). Others include renowned academics like Profs J.F. Ade-Ajayi, Niyi Osundare, Sam Aluko, Bolaji Aluko, Peter Bodurin and others too many to mention.

Following a prolonged political crisis, President Olusegun Obasanjo imposed a military administrator (General Tunji Olurin) on Ekiti State in October 2006. On April 27, 2007 Olurin was replaced by Tope Ademiluyi. In the PDP primary of 2006, 1st place finisher, Yinka Akerele and 2nd place 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. He was later elected in the 2007 election as the governor of the state in an election marred by widespread irregularities and the AC candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi challenged his election and forced a rerun in May 2009.