I read Prof Laofe Ogundipe’s thesis on one Ekiti WhatsApp platform, ‘Atokeibeirosi’; a forum of Ekiti elite and other top Ekiti people around the world, inaccurately pontificating that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will lose in Ekiti State in 2027 election because of Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji’s alleged poor performance and I shook my head, grinning.
Listing why Tinubu is allegedly unpopular in Ekiti, Prof Ogundipe pontificated: BAO’s alleged patronage of friends in contract awards and poor performance; BAO has not released much funds to the local governments as the closest tier of government to the people; and BAO’s alleged opaque operations of the state’s finances, among others, asserting that as a result, Dr Wole Oluyede of PDP will win in the June 20, 2026 governorship election “to continue with Tinubu’s historical reforms”, and, so, the professor wants Ekiti people to vote for Oluyede, even though Oluyede has NEVER told anyone that he believes in Tinubu and his development agenda.
Let me start from the last point; that is the assertion that Dr Oluyede will win to continue with Tinubu’s “historical reforms”.
Prof, pray, when did PDP and Oluyede acknowledge that Tinubu has any “historical reforms” that are worthy of praise and emulation that you believe Oluyede will adopt contrary to his proven party’s role as historical undertaker in Nigeria’s economy? Tell us when and where Oluyede made a public declaration that he supported Tinubu’s reforms agenda.
Oluyede’s PDP will win in Ekiti governorship election? Which faction of PDP does Oluyede belong? Can we say in practical terms that PDP exists in Ekiti State? If at all it exists symbolically, is it a party that will vote against itself that Ekiti people will vote for in an election?
The professor said BAO has been patronising and enriching his friends with contracts but did not tell us the particulars of the contracts, and whether they are/were completed or abandoned.
He also accused Oyebanji of not releasing funds to the local governments. Which law will Oyebanji be observing by doing that? When did Oyebanji become a residual Federal Revenue Allocation and Fiscal Commission to disburse funds to the local governments? Until now, I thought it was FAAC in Abuja that had the exclusive right to share the federation’s money to the three levels of government in Nigeria.
Prof, let me state here that if there is one reason, just one reason, that Tinubu will win in Ekiti State, it is because of the way Oyebanji has been supporting and implementing Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda policy in Ekiti State.
For a start, Oyebanji is a strong proponent of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope Agenda”, aligning his state-level development plans with the Federal Government’s goals and has consistently encouraged Ekiti residents to support the “Renewed Hope” administration to ensure continued development and prosperity.
Ekiti people believe in Oyebanji’s support for Tinubu, hence the massive support demonstrated for the President last week during Oyebanji’s flag-off campaign rally in Ado-Ekiti.
I once wrote that, believing that Ekiti State must play a frontline role in Tinubu’s development process, Oyebanji had declared 100 per cent support for President 2027 re-election. In February 2026, for instance, Oyebanji endorsed the “Renewed Hope Agenda for Asiwaju 2027” during a meeting with the South West Arewa Community.
The governor heavily promoted Tinubu-inspired “Bring Back the Youths to Agriculture” initiative, commissioning “Renewed Hope Dormitories” and farm settlements in October 2025.
These initiatives focus on food security, agricultural industrialisation, and engaging over 5,000 youths, in line with federal mandates.
He also worked closely with federal agencies, among which is the Federal Housing Agency, which plans to activate the Renewed Hope Agenda’s housing policy, aiming for 800 units in Ekiti, including embarking on the rural economy with the construction of trenches around farm clusters in Oke-Ako, Ado-Ekiti, Emure-Ekiti and Ise-Ekiti to prevent cattle incursion, enhance food security and redirect Ekiti youths from the paths where violent crime is a modern ecstasy.
Prof, note that all these earned Oyebanji a resounding commendation by the Presidency in
August 2025, when President Tinubu praised Governor Oyebanji for his leadership in advancing infrastructure, security and economic growth, noting that Ekiti’s initiatives mirror national reforms.
It is also essential to note that consequent upon sterling performance by Oyebanji, the Federal Government listed Ekiti State among the top 10 performing states 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.
For believing in Tinubu and adapting the President’s development agenda, see below the laurels and major institutional awards won by Oyebanji from non-partisan organisations and other development agencies in recognition of his development initiatives in Ekiti State:
- Leadership Newspaper Governor of the Year 2025: Awarded in February 2026 for impactful policies, infrastructure, and development-oriented programmes;
- Silverbird Man of the Year 2024: Received in March 2025 for significant impact on sectors, such as education, healthcare, infrastructure, and inclusive governance;
- Vanguard Newspaper Personality of the Year (Good Governance) 2024: Awarded for commitment to infrastructure and transformative leadership;
- Energy Times Magazine’s Energy Governor of the Year 2024 when Oyebanji was recognized for efforts in improving the state’s energy sector, including community reconnection to the national grid;
- New Telegraph Governor of the Year 2025 (Infrastructure): Received in February 2026 for developments in infrastructure;
- Daily Independent Newspaper Governor of the Year (Community Development) 2023: Awarded for Developmental strides in 2024;
- Most Outstanding Governor of the Year (Inclusive Leadership and Grassroots Development) 2024: Awarded by Marketing Edge Magazine for fostering peace and inclusive governance;
- Nigerian Human Rights Community Best Governor 2024: Recognized for political stability, peace-building, and promoting human dignity;
- National AgricBusiness Policy Award: Recognized for policy support in the agricultural sector;
- Tourism Governor of the Year: Awarded for excellence in tourism development as the first Nigerian governor to create a State Tourism Policy and Tourism Development Master Plan; and
- MSME Award of Recognition award that was presented to Oyebanji by the Office of the Vice President of Nigeria in June 2024 for outstanding support for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.
Other institutional milestones won by Oyebanji include:
- BudgIT State Fiscal Transparency League: Ekiti State ranked No. 1 for five consecutive quarters (Q2, Q3, Q4 2024 and Q1, Q2 2025) in budgets planning and financing transparency; and
- NCDC Recognition: Ekiti State rated as the best-performing state in Nigeria on Disease Surveillance (2025), among others.
These awards largely highlight Governor Oyebanji’s “six-pillar agenda” focusing on governance, infrastructure, health, agriculture and youth empowerment, including other development schemes that are tailored towards Tinubu’s thesis in his ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’.
All these statistical data, including public mood, support Oyebanji’s choice among Ekiti people to clinch victory in the June 20 poll. Instead of dwelling on mob tactics that thrive in unsubstantiated assertions, verifiable statistical data supported by public mood are better yardsticks in victory projection ahead of the June 20 poll. Any projection predicting victory for a political party that is on life support for survival is an exercise is self-deception.
I acknowledge Dr Wole Oluyede as a friend and worthy Ekiti son. I respect Dr Oluyede as a brilliant physician of world renown. But running a state for economic prosperity, security and social advancement is different from wearing stethoscopes or flashing surgical blades at the operation theatres.
I testify that PDP had run the soul of the nation inane, so much so that Nigeria was feeding unnaturally on herself until APC came on board to salvage the nation.
For instance, Ekiti was gasping for the last breath when Governor Kayode Fayemi and Oyebanji as the Secretary to the State Government emerged on the scene for emergency rescue mission to save the state. Oyebanji in 2022 succeeded Fayemi to widen the buffers. Oyebanji’s second term is for consolidation and creating new vistas for development. Ekiti people are yearning for more development, the bedrock of APC’s political intervention and mission as a policy.
I don’t see how a party that has no faith in the development vision of the Nigerian people will fit into a larger agenda of accelerated development that Ekiti people are yearning for. I believe if not for Fayemi/Oyebanji’s interventions, one million physicians recruited from across the globe cannot perform any assay of medicine to cure the wounds that PDP had inflicted on the nation, particularly in Ekiti State plagued with the burden of unpaid salaries and basic infrastructure deficits.
Dr Oluyede is a good man in PDP. But what of the danger of the PDP virus that turns its members into a conclave of wreckers of fortunes? Over time, PDP was an amphitheatre where reckless Nigerian politicians of the right coalesce to plot the wreckage of the nation’s economic ship. Now that the party has thinned out into a cocoon of despondent politicians, how do Nigerians cope with the consequences of the actions of the irate and displaced people re-plotting their fortunes like a band of vagabond minstrels?
Oyebanji represents one of the best hopes among young Nigerians. He has demonstrated that in the last three years posting remarkable results to lift Ekiti people out of poverty. His performance is an incentive for Ekiti people to join him in his efforts to ensure victory for President Tinubu in 2027 polls. Tinubu’s victory is a mission that is set before Ekiti people and it is a task that will be accomplished in 2027 with Oyebanji leading.
*Olujobi is the Deputy Director 1, Media and Communications Directorate of the Ekiti State Governorship Campaign Council
