By Wole Olujobi
Ekiti people are on the march again to elect a governor that will run their affairs from October 16, 2026 to October 16, 2030.
In the loop is the incumbent Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji who is virtually running a lone race as opposition parties are in the limbo, existing only in names and not in functionality.
As things stand, Oyebanji enjoys a universal acceptability founded on trust and performance to hone his bid for second term election success.
When he started his leadership journey on December 9, 2021 in Abuja where he had gone to obtain his governorship nomination form at the APC National Secretariat to contest the June 18, 2022 Ekiti State governorship election, the first sign that Ekiti State and her people were on the verge of a new and productive leadership deal manifested on his return to Ekiti State on December 10, 2021, as thousands of his grassroots sponsors on various self-sponsored campaign platforms came out in bright colours, as they lined up Ado-Akure Road blaring horns amid drumming to welcome the Ikogosi-Ekiti-born multi-talented politician to the warm embrace of the APC leadership and Ekiti people in general at the Ajilosun party secretariat reception in Ado-Ekiti attended by the high and low in Ekiti political and non-political classes.
His acceptance among Ekiti people is not without basis. While holding government positions that taught him lessons in humility and political leadership responsibilities, he had conducted himself in admirable manner, lending support to the needy and making himself accessible among the generality of Ekiti people. Added to this grassroots appeal was the well-thought-out campaign programme encapsulated in a six-point agenda, which in the last three years, he has faithfully implemented in education, health, agriculture, social investment sectors, security, economy and infrastructure development, including creating an atmosphere of amity among contending political forces in Ekiti State, for enduring peace, thus earning the trust and confidence of Ekiti people.
Not done, the governor also put the state on the world aviation map, as commercial operations at the Ekiti State Cargo International Airport debuted as an economic boost in the state’s history in prime development efforts, winning laurels from flagship media organisations and top economic and development watchdogs.
Among the states that top the list on the metrics of performance, the Federal Government listed Ekiti State under Oyebanji in Nigeria’s ease of doing business ranking, joining other states, such as Lagos, Kaduna, Oyo, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ogun, Enugu, Plateau, Kano and Nasarawa, as the foremost drivers of the nation’s economic growth.
Three and half years down the line, Oyebanji’s profile and accomplishments in his drive to raise the standards of living and value of mutual habitation among Ekiti people have etched his name in gold as a legacy of honour and service to the people, so much so that what Ekiti people are today advertising in Oyebanji is not an isolated, local content that seeks to elevate the governor in the context of marketing for political expediency; it is a moral responsibility among the people to acknowledge the governor as a revolutionary in politics and governance. For him, to lead a common front in a diverse political setting is to define a moment for a deep introspection to chart a course for progress in the digital era where Ekiti State must play a frontline role.
On top of it is the mission to accomplish the vision in the most transparent and fulfilling manner in the atmosphere of peace.
For effect, the governor, besides credible performance, has forged amity among old rivals through his visionary leadership and politics of accommodation, coalescing diverse partisans to challenge the political conflicts amid artificial distortions that have stultified the growth of the state over the years.
Today, those contradictions have since taken the back seat, as Oyebanji leads the charge to redirect Ekiti State to the path of honour and sense of history that once shaped Ekiti people in their collective destiny for progress.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led movement for democratic rights and progress among Nigerians has begun with Ekiti State as a test case. In the impending ballot, voters’ direction is clear for Oyebanji, who has matured politically to encourage divergent partisan views to thrive as an essential element of participatory democracy.
Far from the volatility of the past politics of ambush, only a leader that has a sense of history, maturity, patriotism, candour, moral conviction and integrity, such as Oyebanji, will achieve the level of tranquility that pervades the state in the first election that an incumbent governor is poised for a clear win in an historic and historical succession poll.
Even though a pocket of opponents still exist to fulfil the democracy ritual of plurality in electoral contests, fact is that Oyebanji’s moral authority is a compass of trust and magnet that has shrunk the opposition to a miserable decimal as, APC, driven by the progressive ethos of its founding fathers, is set for a runaway victory with Oyebanji running on the crest of acceptability and trust among Ekiti people.
Indeed, moral authority is Oyebanji’s magic wand for victory as Ekiti people head to polls on June 20 to return the governor for a second term, as history unfolds for a focused man driven by vision for collective progress of his people.
Oyebanji is capable of achieving the feat because he has a thrilling spirit that craves for universal communion because he loves peace and cherishes amity in human relationships. And when he does that, his motive and motivation are borne out of a desire to expand his coast to strengthen his sense of tribe and community.
For Oyebanji, whose genius is rooted in his honesty of purpose and ability to relate with the grassroots in the most transparent manner in a remarkably relaxed coolness, there is nothing greater than community spirit where one feels secure that he has delivered on a divine call to serve the people.
As the pitched politics of electoral campaigns unfolds ahead of the June 20 poll, the acceptability anchored on performance, humility and the trust that Ekiti people have in Oyebanji is his energy in the last lap of the current political race to breast home to victory.
The chase has begun and Ekiti people are waiting in the wings to seize the moment to invest their votes in Oyebanji for a prosperous Ekiti State. He is already doing it. The next four years are for the consolidation of the current gains nurtured by leadership trust and discipline with prospects for greater Ekiti State in the new Nigeria being nurtured by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The vision is clear. The mission is defined. Ekiti people are resolute and committed to Oyebanji’s leadership anchored on trust. The triumph is imminent. June 20 is the jubilee day for the celebration of the leadership rooted in harmony with the vision of Ekiti people for progress, to tame the succession bogey that had haunted second term elections in Ekiti State and arrest “the culture of 10 steps forward and 30 steps backward” that had been the bane of Ekiti State’s development over the years.
* Olujobi is the Deputy Director of Media and Communications of BAO Campaign Council