Speaker of the House of Assembly Sheriff Oborevwori held the office for the PDP by a 18% margin over Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC).

[4] Omo-Agege rejected the results and filed legal challenges with the proceedings eventually reaching the Supreme Court, which affirmed Oborevwori's victory in January 2024.

Although the state was easily won by PDP presidential nominee Atiku Abubakar, it still swung towards Buhari compared to 2015 and had much lower turnout.

In Okowa's May 2019 inauguration speech, he said that his second term focuses would include establishing nineteen new technical colleges, transport infrastructure, healthcare, entrepreneurship training programmes, and agriculture development.

[10] Performance-wise, Okowa was praised for increasing government transparency and improving infrastructure but was criticized for the controversial Delta Line privatization and his administration’s systemic budget misappropriation.

[45][46] On 29 August, the Appeal Court ruled in favour of Oborevwori, reinstating him as the PDP nominee on the grounds that his opponents had not conclusively proven forgeries in his certificates.

[51] Both Okowa and Oborevwori publicly celebrated the verdict as a victory for internal democratic practices while the state PDP released a statement calling for unity.

[77] Analysts also noted two notable minor party nominees — longtime politician Great Ogboru (APGA) and former Minister Kenneth Gbagi (SDP) — while also writing about the power shift as all prominent candidates were from the central district.

[80] Despite attempts at PDP reconciliation, a lawsuit challenging Oborevwori's candidacy by runner-up David Edevbie was not withdrawn and emerged successful on 7 July.

[81] Although Oborevwori was reinstated as nominee by an Appeal Court ruling in late August, the month was dominated by PDP infighting and observer questions over the party's electoral strength.

[8][82][83] Coupled with the previous infighting was the shadow of Edevbie's appeal to the Supreme Court, which reporters said signified the continuation of the PDP crisis.

The attacks were in the wider context of internal party rifts within both the APC and PDP as there were notably absences from campaign events by the intraparty rivals of Omo-Agege and Oborevwori.

Considered a slight surprise as Okowa was Abubakar's running mate, the result led to increased focus on the gubernatorial race.

[95] Additionally, the presidential result pushed journalists to label Ken Pela (LP) as a major candidate due to Obi's win.