Ekiti 2026: Oyebanji deserves second term, say Fayose, Ojudu

A former governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, and a former presidential political adviser, Babafemi Ojudu, on Wednesday said Governor Biodun Oyebanji deserves a second term based on his sterling performance in office in the last three years.

Fayose and Ojudu spoke during Oyebanji’s campaign rally in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, to conclude his tour of local government areas in the state.

Oyebanji is the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the Ekiti State governorship election scheduled to be held on June 20.

Fayose, who spoke on behalf of his colleague former governors, described Oyebanji as a performer and builder of a modern Ekiti.

He maintained that all of the former governors were behind Oyebanji’s re-election for a second term, stressing that his brilliant and captivating performance must last till 2030 in the interest of the people.

The former governor, who said that Oyebanji had no viable opponent that could pose any threat on account of his exhilarating performance scorecard, said, “I want to salute our governor, the performer, the builder and the man of the moment who has brought all of us together.

“I celebrate you at this moment. I am here in my capacity as one of the leaders of this state who is interested in the development of the people.

“This governor never abandoned anybody, and we are solidly behind him. We are with you, and we will ever remain with you.

“I am not a member of the APC; you all know my party. But what is good has no other name. I want Oyebanji, popularly known as BAO, to remain in office till 2030. He is a good leader.”

Ojudu, on his part, hailed Oyebanji for the change that Ekiti politics had witnessed under him.

Ojudu said, “The governor remains the most accessible, the most friendly, and he has been the most generous to our people.

“In this election, the minimum we can give him is 500,000 votes. Let us thank him for the kind of change he has brought to Ekiti politics.

“I have told everybody that I have retired from politics, but he brought me out of retirement. He said I can’t retire.

“He has become our leader in Ekiti. He sees everybody as brothers, whether you are from Ado or Ikogosi, wherever you may come from. All of us, both at home and in the diaspora, will be around to vote for him.

“Governor Oyebanji is not fake; he is an original Ekiti man, a solid Ekiti man, and we will continue to stand by him. I want to thank him for what he has done for us in Ekiti.”

Also speaking, the Senate Leader and Chairman of the Campaign Council, Opeyemi Bamidele, thanked the people for their groundswell of support, particularly the backing being offered by the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe, for the current government.

Bamidele said the governor had done well in terms of performance, display of strong character, pursuit of unity and development of human capital, saying his reelection is a fine deal.

“We have a total of 1.032 million voters in Ekiti. In 2022, Ado gave APC 23,000 votes, and  we are looking at 120,000 votes from Ado this time. You know the kind of work we need to do.

“SDP in 2022 had 15,000, and PDP had 7,000. But today, we don’t  have the kind of fierce opposition we had in 2022. Engineer Segun Oni, who contested against us then, is now campaigning for Oyebanji. The 120,000 votes expectation from Ado Ekiti is doable; let us work hard and deliver it,” he said.

In his address, Oyebanji said the party had visited all the local government areas without violence, which attests to his resolve to allow free and fair elections on June 20.

The governor told the gathering, “Everybody in Ado Ekiti has seen what we have done. You have seen the airport we completed, the road we built, the ring road we have constructed; you can see the flyover and the hospital we have built. All these are the projects that are speaking loudly for us.

“We have visited 15 local governments now, and the support has been overwhelming and humbling.

“Let us work hard in this election. We have a target we must meet to appreciate President Tinubu in 2027. We must send the signal with this election.

“The total number of all APC members in Ekiti is 100,000. Go out and identify the teachers, okada riders, traders and those who are not our members and woo them to vote for us.

“This is the only way we will be able to meet the standard of votes set.

“The fact that we didn’t witness any violence was a new order in Ekiti, and the fact that we respect the fundamental rights of everybody.”