By Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti
An Ekiti-based veteran journalist and legal scholar, Dr Tai Oguntayo, has called on controversial social media activist, VeryDarkMan (VDM), to tender an unreserved apology to the people of Ekiti State over what he described as deliberate misinformation on the state’s 2026 health budget.
Akogun Oguntayo, in a statement titled “Why VDM Needs to Apologize to Ekiti People,” faulted VDM for unjustly attacking Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji (BAO) and circulating false claims that Ekiti State allocated only ₦68 million to healthcare in its 2026 budget.
According to him, while VDM may have relied on misleading information allegedly first circulated by an Ekiti-born social media commentator, ignorance could not excuse what he termed a failure of due diligence.
“You don’t follow a monkey to eat grass,” Oguntayo said, insisting that VDM ought to have critically examined the entire health sector allocation before rushing to social media to “chase clouds.”
Drawing from his experience as a former Supervisor for Health and Secretary to a Local Government, Oguntayo explained that Primary Health Care (PHC) constitutionally falls under Local Government administration, while the State Ministry of Health plays a supervisory role through the State Primary Health Care Development Agency.
He stressed that a holistic review of Ekiti State’s 2026 proposed budget shows that the Ministry of Health and Human Services alone has a total allocation of ₦6.084 billion, broken down as follows:
Ministry of Health and Human Services – ₦550.5m
Ekiti State Health Insurance Scheme – ₦50.8m
Primary Healthcare Development Agency – ₦253.8m
Hospitals Management Board – ₦5.17bn
Ekiti State Drugs and Health Supplies Management Agency – ₦55m
Oguntayo further cited massive investments in health infrastructure across the state, noting that over 106 Primary Health Care centres were renovated across the 16 local government areas in 2025, alongside the upgrading of nine general hospitals.
He added that in Okemesi-Ekiti alone, the Oyebanji administration reportedly spent over ₦1 billion on state-of-the-art medical equipment for the General Hospital, describing it as just one of 17 such facilities across the state.
To counter claims that the projects existed only on paper, Oguntayo listed several completed health facilities across Ikole, Ikere, Efon, Ido-Osi and other communities, urging residents to independently verify the projects.
“If this government committed such huge resources to health institutions in 2025, how plausible is it that it would suddenly budget a paltry ₦68 million for primary healthcare in 2026?” he queried.
Oguntayo concluded that if VDM genuinely represents the interest of ordinary Nigerians and is not merely “cashing out” from social outrage, he must publicly apologise to Governor Oyebanji and the people of Ekiti State for spreading what he described as falsehood.