A former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, and ex-presidential adviser, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, have described Governor Biodun Oyebanji as a performer and builder of a modern Ekiti, who deserves to be re-elected for a second term.
They spoke on Wednesday during the final leg of Oyebanji’s campaign tour of the 16 local government areas in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
Fayose, who spoke on behalf of his colleague former governors, maintained that all of them are 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.
Fayose said he was confident that Oyebanji will win the June 20 poll, adding that the governor has no viable opponent that could pose any threat, on account of his exhilarating performance scorecard.
According to him, “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 part of the leaders of this state that are 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 All Progressives Congress (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.
“On behalf of all the former governors, I want to say that we remain with him and we want him to remain in office till 2030. We congratulate him. God bless everybody.”
Another leader of the party, Senator Ojudu, said it will be a shame for the party to deliver anything less than 500,000 votes to retain the governor on his seat.
“The governor remains the most accessible, the most friendly, 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.
“Oyebanji is not a fake Ekiti man; 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.”
On his part, the Senate Leader and Chairman of the Campaign Council, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, commended the people for their support, particularly the backing being offered by the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, for the current government.
Bamidele said the governor has 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 1,032,000 voters in Ekiti. In 2022, Ado gave APC 23,000 votes and we are looking at 120,000 votes from Ado this time. You can 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 BAO. The 120,000 votes expected from Ado Ekiti is doable, let us work hard and deliver it.”
Speaking, Oyebanji said the party has visited all the local governments without violence, which attests to his resolve to allow free and fair election on June 20.
Oyebanji praised President Bola Tinubu for his fairness to the state in terms of appointments and projects, describing this as a novelty since the advent of democracy in 1999.
According to him, “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 and Ado is the 16th 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 is a new order in Ekiti and the fact that we respect the fundamental rights of everybody.
“Our canvassers will begin mobilisation through door to door campaign from tomorrow. We are not going to rest until June 19, when we must have converted all the voters here in Ekiti to vote for APC.”
The state chairman of the APC, Sola Elesin, who is from Ado Local Government, said the local government has a total of 187,000 votes across the 13 wards, stressing that nothing prevents the party from delivering an aggregate of 180,000 out of it.
Other leaders and stakeholders, who spoke at the event lauded the governor for giving Ado Ekiti a facelift through the flyover project, revenue house, Ado Ekiti Ring Road, Ekiti State International Cargo Airport, several road projects, human capital development, promising to mobilise for his re-election on June 20.
