the Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary has come and gone. The shadow poll, which produced the former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Biodun Oyebanji, as the flag bearer for the June 18 governorship poll, was keenly contested. In this piece, Odunayo Ogunmola examines the candidate’s chances at the poll
Providence and fate have been preparing and positioning Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji as the future Governor of Ekiti State even when he had no inkling about staking a claim to the state’s number one seat.
When he joined other eminent Ekiti indigenes to mount relentless advocacy for the creation of Ekiti State as a 26-year-old lecturer at the then Ondo State University, Ado Ekiti (OSUA), now known as Ekiti State University (EKSU) in the mid-90s, Oyebanji never knew that the symbolic step was the beginning years of selfless service to his fatherland.
At that young age, Oyebanji had been working and interacting with eminent traditional rulers, legal luminaries, retired permanent secretaries and top bureaucrats, senior university dons, business moguls and captains of industry and other leaders of thought to endure sleepless nights, tortuous journeys, enervating contacts with those that matter in the state creation drive and untiring advocacy before Ekiti State was created by the late Gen. Sani Abacha-led military government on October 1, 1996.
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Had Oyebanji continued in academia, he would have by now become a Professor and probably a Vice-Chancellor but calls to serve his beloved Ekiti State and his country, Nigeria, never allowed him the opportunity to stay in the ivory tower.
But, a bigger office-the governorship-is beckoning on this Ikogosi Ekiti-born politician who will have the opportunity of further translating the vision he shared with other founding fathers of Ekiti State as the Secretary of the Committee for the Creation of Ekiti State into reality if elected as the state’s Chief Executive.
The name Oyebanji appears to have resonated loud and clear within the Ekiti political landscape since he won the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary held on January 27.
With the APC’s governorship ticket in his hand, Oyebanji is now primed to succeed the incumbent, Dr. Kayode Fayemi as the next Governor of Ekiti State. He is the candidate to beat at the June 18 governorship election.
Having won the APC primary which was held in all the 177 wards of the state by a wide margin, the immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG) appears to be the hottest favourite to win the coveted governorship seat in the main election scheduled for June 18.
Oyebanji’s acceptability was confirmed by the fact that the APC conducted its governorship primary using the Modified Open Ballot System (MOBS) otherwise known as Direct Primary Mode or Option A4 System. It was the mode demanded by a majority of the aspirants that the party’s national leadership acceded to.
It was a mode of primary in which all registered party members had the opportunity of casting their votes for the aspirants of their choice by queuing up behind the posters of their preferred aspirants with the counting done in the presence of all.
January 27 was a celebration of internal democracy by the Ekiti APC with party members made up of old and young people trooping out to their wards to elect the candidates of their choice with the majority of them giving their nod to Oyebanji. There was no incident of violence and security breach recorded on that day.
As voting was in progress at the Ekiti APC primary, enthusiastic party members in various wards posted the videos of the shadow poll in their respective wards on various social media platforms while others posted the results declared even before the official declaration of results.
The result of the primary election would not be a surprise to discerning individuals who have been following and monitoring the goings-on in the political sphere of Ekiti State. The APC members in the state spoke with their votes and with their voices that Oyebanji was their indisputable choice.
The results were officially declared by the Ekiti APC Governorship Primary Election Committee chaired by Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Badaru. According to the official results of the primary, Oyebanji polled 101, 703 votes to defeat seven other contestants in the race for the party’s governorship ticket.
Other aspirants and their scores are Kayode Ojo, 767 votes; Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, 760 votes; Prince Adedayo Adeyeye, 691 votes; Olufemi Bamisile, 400 votes; Bamidele Faparusi, 376 votes; Demola Popoola, 239 votes and Oluwasola Afolabi, 47 votes.
Out of a maximum of 183,560 registered APC members in Ekiti State, 104,983 members showed up and were counted on the queues to vote with 101,703 of them voting for Oyebanji. That simply means that 97 per cent of the party members voted for Oyebanji and 55.4 per cent of all registered APC members showed up to vote for the former SSG.
Shortly after he resigned from office as the Secretary to the State Government (a position he had held since October 2018) in early December last year, Oyebanji immediately embarked on visits to party leaders and members in their wards to seek their support for his candidature in the forthcoming primary and with a message that he was ready to serve the people of the state.
Before the primary was held on January 27, 2022, Oyebanji had crisscrossed the 177 wards four times speaking on his readiness for the top job, the experience he had garnered and why he believed he was the best candidate the party could field as the flag bearer for the June 18, 2022 governorship poll.
Convincing APC leaders and members on why he should be elected as the flag bearer, Oyebanji’s major selling point was the privilege of serving under the two governors so far produced by the progressives bloc: Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo (one term) and Dr. John Kayode Fayemi two terms) in various key positions for a cumulative period of eleven years, an experience no other contender for the ticket could boast of.
Oyebanji said then: “If anybody says he wants to be governor, ask him from whom did he learn the job, ask him the experience he has acquired. By the grace of God, I learnt under Otunba Adebayo for four years (1999-2003), I learnt under Dr. Fayemi during the first administration for four years (2010-2014) and I learnt under Dr. Fayemi again for three years (2018-2021).
“All these experiences had prepared me for the task ahead. Experiences gathered as a disciple under these two eminent political leaders with outstanding successes to show are not easy to come by and I have been on the ground in this state for a long time contributing my quota to the development of our dear state.”
Oyebanji has seen it all as a learner and disciple and he believes now is the time for him to call the shot as the number political leader in the state. He boasts of a rich political curriculum vitae of working experience acquired at the state and federal levels and these he will showcase to the electorate when public campaigns official begin on March 20.
Months before the primary election was held, the leadership of the APC in Ekiti commissioned an opinion poll which was carried out by hired consultants to seek the opinion of the people in the grassroots on the aspirants jostling for the party’s ticket.
The discreet poll which took the interviewers to all the nooks and crannies of the state sought to know the opinion of the people on the best among the aspirants that could be fielded by the party and the poll favoured Oyebanji with the result of the primary election confirming the poll result.
Some of the reasons given by the respondents, the majority of whom were party members during the poll included Oyebanji’s humility, accessibility, philanthropy, open-door policy, giving assistance to party members and non-party members, civil servants and his readiness to always pick calls of people seeking his assistance.
Some of them claimed that Oyebanji assisted in paying school fees of indigent students, supported victims of floods, rainstorms, fire disasters and other emergencies adding that Oyebanji would be an accessible governor if eventually elected at the main gubernatorial poll.
Governance is a serious business and experience matters for anybody seeking to run a homogeneous, but complex state like Ekiti. Oyebanji’s experience stood him out among the aspirants seeking the APC ticket. During the Adebayo administration, he served as Special Assistant on Parliamentary Affairs and later upgraded to Special Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs (between 1999 and 2001).
He was later appointed as Chief of Staff to the Governor (between 2001 and 2003). During the first Fayemi administration, Oyebanji first served as Commissioner for Regional Integration and Inter-Governmental Affairs (between 2010 to 2011; the Head, Office of Transformation, Strategy and Delivery (OTSD between 2011 to 2013) after which he was later appointed as the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning (between 2013 to 2014). He capped it all with the office of the Secretary to the State Government, which he held from October 2018 to December 2021, which gave him a ringside view of how government runs and as a man to be trusted to keep building on the legacies of the second Fayemi administration.
All these offices held by Oyebanji at the state level were also enriched by a stint at the federal level as the Chairman, Governing Board, Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre, an agency under the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports Development (from 2009 to 2010) where he gave a good account of himself.
Another factor that worked in Oyebanji’s favour was his perceived acceptance to the two most influential power brokers in Ekiti APC: former Governor Adebayo and incumbent Governor Fayemi. The two leaders who had managed their relationship well for nearly two decades now are further united by Oyebanji’s candidature who was very loyal to the duo.
It was feared in some quarters that the issue of who emerges as the APC candidate in 2022 may create a wedge between Adebayo and Fayemi, but it appears the two leaders are satisfied having Oyebanji as the man to continue the ideals and manifesto of progressivism beyond 2022 in the Land of Honour.
As Oyebanji was loyal to Adebayo under whom he served as Chief of Staff (from 2001 to 2003), he was equally loyal to Fayemi under, who he served as SSG (from 2018 to 2021) without blemish. He was not an inordinately ambitious politician, he delivered on the assignments given to him with aplomb and there was no scandal that could be traced to him.
Oyebanji’s consistency as a progressive is one of the factors that had worked in his favour. From the days of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), to the days of the Action Congress (AC), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and down to the days of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Oyebanji has been very consistent. He has never jumped ship to other parties; being an Afenifere member, he is also acceptable to the party’s Elders’ Forum.
Another factor that worked in favour of Oyebanji is what this writer can describe as “homeboy advantage.” A large section of the Ekiti populace had clamoured for the election of a home-based politician on grounds to that many of the past elected governor’s did not spend a greater period of their lives on Ekiti soil.
Having been on the ground as one of the leading lights of the creation of Ekiti State and also a key player in three progressive administrations in the state, Oyebanji knows the state like the palms of his hands. He will be a perfect torchbearer to continue and sustain the worthy legacies of the outgoing Fayemi Administration.
As the formert Ekiti SSG, Oyebanji diligently performed the tasks handed him in ensuring that the wheel of governance run effectively and efficiently most especially in the areas of execution of policies, the running of the cabinet, collaboration with other agencies and other key assignments.
Apart from being born on Ekiti soil, Oyebanji had his primary education, secondary education and the first degree of his university education in Ekiti, worked as a university lecturer, a bank executive and also an investor in agribusiness business in Ekiti which provides employment for citizens.
On the home front, Oyebanji is also married to an Ado Ekiti princess, who is an Associate Professor at the University of Ibadan, Dr. Olayemi Oyebanji. If he succeeds in the June 18 governorship poll, Oyebanji will be the first graduate of Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti (which he graduated from when it was known as the Ondo State University, Ado Ekiti) to become Governor of Ekiti State.
Oyebanji now stands as the favourite to succeed Fayemi on account of being the candidate of the ruling party and being an integral part of an administration that is seen to have performed despite the limited resources available to it. The party has more than 2,000 projects across the length and breadth of the state to point to and use as campaign tools ahead of the governorship election.
Both Fayemi and Oyebanji are standing on the threshold of history and are seeking to break the record of one party winning the governorship crown back-to-back as a change of government from one party to another has been identified as the bane of development in Ekiti.
History is beckoning…June 18 is the date Oyebanji has with destiny and history with Hurricane BAO ready to sweep his way into the Ekiti Government House located on Ayoba Hills in Ado Ekiti.
Ogunmola, who is the Special Assistant (Media), Office of the Deputy Governor Ekiti State, wrote in from Ado Ekiti.
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