Ekiti Guber: APM Governorship Candidate Steps Down for Oyebanji

…As Oyebanji, Bamidele say “no breathing space” for opposition in battle for votes

Ahead of the June 20 governorship election in Ekiti State, the candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) in the state, Chief Joseph Anifowose, on Tuesday stepped down for Governor Biodun Oyebanji, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), at a rally in Igede-Ekiti.

Chief Anifowose cited the need to sustain the tempo of growth and development being witnessed under the BAO Administration in the last three and a half years for his decision to step down and work for the re-election of Governor Oyebanji.

He told party leaders, supporters and residents at the rally that his decision was informed by the visible transformation and developmental strides recorded in the state under the Oyebanji administration, which he described as a turning point in Ekiti’s governance.

According to him, the progress in infrastructure, social services and governance reforms across the state had convinced him that continuity was necessary to sustain and deepen the ongoing development agenda.

He said “ if you look at Governor Oyebanji in the last three and a half years, he has been able to mobilize all the former Governors for the development of the state. Governor Oyebanji is a divine arrangement and a God sent. He has shown capacity and competence and he is committed to making Ekiti great

“That is why my party APM has decided to support the Governor. We held the state executive and the state working committee meetings where all the local government executives were directed to go and vote for Governor Oyebanji and it was publicly announced”, he added.

Earlier in Ilawe Ekiti, Governor Biodun Oyebanji, Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele and Senate spokesman, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, have declared that there will no breathing space for the opposition in the battle to secure the votes of the electorate in the forthcoming governorship and general elections in Ekiti.

The trio said the All Progressives Congress (APC) is poised to achieve a landslide victory in the June 20 governorship election, and the January 2027 presidential election to ensure the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose benevolence and magnanimity, according to them, have benefitted Ekiti in the last three years.

Addressing a teeming crowd at the two locations, Oyebanji stressed that major capital projects being executed by both state and federal governments are gestures to prove that the APC loves the state and that the people of the state have not made mistake in voting the party to power.

Some of the projects referenced by the Governor include Ikere-Ilawe Road, Ikere-Igbara Odo Road, Igbara Odo-Ikogosi Road, Ilawe-Erijiyan Road, Ilawe General Hospital all executed by his administration and Ikere-Iju-Ita Ogbolu-Akure highway whose one lane has been completed by the federal government and Itawure-Aramoko-Igede-Ado highway presently being reconstructed also by the federal government.

According to the governor, the federal government under the leadership of President Tinubu is already fixing the notorious Itawure-Aramoko-Igede-Ado highway.

While urging the people of Ekiti to keep the APC in power at state and federal levels, Oyebanji said the President also demonstrated his love for the state by appointing many of its indigenes to prominent and enviable positions in his administration.

The APC governorship flag bearer also disclosed that two power transmission stations at Ilupeju Ekiti and Ijesa Isu Ekiti being executed by the Tinubu-led federal government are nearing completion and would boost power supply for domestic and industrial use in the state. He charged the electorate to repay the favour with their votes at the polls.

Oyebanji also aimed a dig at the opposition parties in the state who he carpeted for their inactivity on the campaign field accusing them of being only present on social media unlike the APC that is vigorously engaging the electorate and taking its campaigns to their domains to demonstrate readiness to sweep the available votes on election day.

He said: “We are targeting not less than 500,000 votes at the coming election and 177-0 result at ward level because we don’t want to lose any of the wards. Here in Ekiti South West which has eleven wards, we are expecting 11-0. We urge our fathers, mothers, youths and everybody look for the APC name and logo on the ballot paper and thumbprint validly.

“As we leave here, let us return home and make peace with everybody. You see, no other party is campaigning, they are only campaigning on social media and that is where they will hear their own result. God has given us victory already.”

Adaramodu, who is the Senator representing Ekiti South in the Senate and deputy Director General of the Campaign Council, maintained that the only agenda on ground was to deliver victory for Oyebanji and Tinubu. He insisted that other candidates who are not from APC would not win any election because the zone is a no-go area for the opposition.

He said: “In Ekiti South West Local Government, we have about 56,000 registered voters and if we deliver less than 50,000, we have not done well. That means that we must deliver at least 50,000 for APC and BAO (Oyebanji), the winning votes here must be for BAO.

Bamidele enjoined the electorate in the council area to avoid delivering what he called “wastes votes” saying it was only votes for the APC that will benefit them, because it is the only party that occupies every office from the presidency to the councillorship.

The Senate Leader who has facilitated the construction of a mini stadium in Ilawe said the people are benefitting from federal government, state government and the various interventions of the federal legislators from the state.

Appreciating the people for their support for Oyebanji, Tinubu and the APC, Senator Bamidele said the present administration led by the party has set a standard in governance that would improve the standard of living of the people in the long term.

Senator Bamidele who is also the Chairman of the BAO Re-election Campaign Council urged eligible voters to be pragmatic and vote wisely noting that voting for candidates whose parties have little or no structures on ground would end up becoming wasted votes.

He said there would be no breathing space for “marginal parties that want to play spoiler roles” nothing that the giant strides being superintended by the APC at state and federal levels should be allowed to continue to ensure a virile and prosperous polity.

Bamidele said: “I want to say this to our people, don’t allow anybody to waste your votes. If you have a contestant in your hometown but in a party without President, Governor, Senator, House of Representatives, House of Assembly members and even councillors and he tells you to vote for his party, he wants to waste your votes.

“Vote for a party from which you can benefit. This is not Ekiti South West that BAO met on ground, a lot has changed here since the time he came to office. Before the January general elections, we must first make victory sure on June 20. None of are candidates should be allowed to fail at all the elections.”

Ekiti APC Chairman, Barrister Sola Elesin, described Oyebanji as a governor who had lived up to expectation and should be encouraged to return to office for the sustenance of good governance being enjoyed in the state.

Spokespersons of interest groups in the local government areas threw their weight behind Oyebanji and restated their readiness to re-elect him based on what his administration has done in their communities and council areas.