The Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji (BAO), has assured Ekiti people that he will run a transparent government that would ensure development for the state in line with his six-point-agenda outlined in his manifesto.
Addressing participants at a programme tagged, ‘Manifesto To Agreement Drive’ organized by the Justice, Development And Peace Initiative in conjunction with Ekiti Council of Elders and the Nigerian Union of Journalists, for candidates of all participating parties, in Ado Ekiti at the weekend, Oyebanji said his priority is to make Ekiti prosperous for both indigenes and non-indigene if elected as governor in the June 18 election.
No fewer than 10 governorship candidates of political parties in the state participated in the event, which also had in attendance representatives of the State Council of Traditional Rulers, Civil Society Organisations, organised Labour, security agencies and the media.
Oyebanji, who was the first to present his manifesto to the audience, reeled out his six-point agenda for the development of the state. The six points are; job creation, human capital development, Agriculture and rural development, infrastructure and industrialization, Arts, Culture & Tourism and good governance.
He stated further that if given the opportunity to govern Ekiti State, he would pay more attention to growing the economy through job creation for young people, continuation of uncompleted projects, human capital development to safeguard people’s life, provision of conducive environment for businesses to grow and sustainability of welfare package for workers, retirees, senior citizens and traditional institutions.
Oyebanji also restated his commitment and that of his party, APC, to issue- based campaign devoid of violence and hate speech, adding that the beauty of democracy is that the people are the ones vested with the power to determine who would be their leader.
After his well applauded presentation, the APC gubernatorial candidate signed the social contract document presented by the organisers. He also tasked the organisers not to pay lip service to periodical evaluation of his performance if he becomes the governor.
A representative of the Civil Society Organisations, Mr. Samuel Adekola, who was at the event as an observer while talking to Journalists, commended the candidates for agreeing to the social contract document and participation in the programme. In particular, he applauded Oyebanji for his nobility and enthusiasm while exchanging pleasantries with candidates of other parties.
“I commend the organisers for putting together this independent platform for the candidates to tell Ekiti people what they have for them. I must also commend the candidates for their willingness to be part of this and approval of external evaluation mechanism in government. permit me therefore to zero in my observation to the APC candidate, Hon Oyebanji. At every interval, he called on Ekiti people not to give room to violence. To demonstrate this, he proved right there that he was a man of peace in the way he cheerfully and respectfully exchanged pleasantries with his colleagues, including; Dr. Wole Oluyede of African Democratic Party(ADC), Mr Agboola Olaniyi Ben, of People’s Redemption Party(PRP) and Engr. Segun Oni of Social Democratic Party (SDP).
A member of the APC Campaign Council and former Head of Service in the state, Mr Deji Ajayi commended the organisers for providing a platform for members of the public and critical stakeholders to appraise the manifestos of the governorship candidates ahead of the June 18 election.
He urged them to extend the programme to capture candidates in Council, state assembly and National Assembly elections in order to scale up issue- based electioneering campaigns in the state.
Raheem Akingbolu
Media Assistant to APC Candidate