The Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, on Saturday urged members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to allow peace to reign before, during and after the 27 October primary election of the party.
Mr Oyebanji spoke at the APC Stakeholders meeting held at Iyin-Ekiti, the country home of the first democratic governor of the state, Adeniyi Adebayo.
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He spoke against the backdrop of the emergence of other governorship aspirants to challenge in the 20 June 2026 off-cycle election in the state.
No fewer than four aspirants, including the governor, have obtained the expression of interest and nomination forms to slug it out for the party’s ticket.
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Mr Oyebanji told members of the APC to take the coming poll seriously and show more commitment, saying, “October 27 primary election is the foundation for the June 20, 2026 election, just as the 2026 election is the foundation for 2027, that is the trajectory.
“By the grace of God and by your benevolence, I intend to break the reproach and the jinx that no governor has done back-to-back in Ekiti. One of the banes of our underdevelopment is lack of continuity,” he said.
Speaking on the need for peace among members irrespective of differences, the governor said: “Let’s learn to live in peace with one another, let us not fight ourselves. October 27 will come and there will be October 28 when we are going to need everybody. Those who may seem to be annoying us now, let ‘s tolerate them.
“Dissention is a democratic right in a political party. When we finish the primary, there is a bigger battle in front. Those who are not with you now, when they come back we are going to create space because in the Bible, there is a parable of the prodigal son. We would rather have them within the party than to lose them.”
In his remarks at the meeting, the immediate past governor of the state, Kayode Fayemi, urged aggrieved party members to sheathe their swords and support the governor, warning that “we must not throw away the baby with the bath water.”
Mr Fayemi said there is a need for the party’s faithful to be fully committed and not relax under the illusion that the poll has been won by Oyebanji.
He noted that elections are not won on Twitter (X) and WhatsApp.
“October 27 is around the corner. The work we have to do between now and October 27, we shouldn’t be complacent. I see all these Twitter and WhatsApp politicians, saying that BAO (Mr Oyebanji) has won.
“Please, politics is happening at units and wards and not on WhatsApp. Let’s go back to our wards and work so that what we are professing with our mouths could be backed by our votes. After October 27, the work just started.
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“We must support our governor and go ward by ward, unit by unit to get the job done. We are all on the same page as far as that is concerned. I don’t know of any genuine APC person, if you are a genuine APC member, even if you don’t like Abayomi Oyebanji, if you are an APC member, you can’t pray that our party loses the next election.
“In this state, except you are not an APC member, if you are, at least you will let Oyebanji win first before voicing your grievances,” he said.
Among those present at the stakeholders meeting included former Governor Adebayo, chairperson and members of the state working committee of the APC, all National Assembly and State Assembly members, leaders of the party from the three senatorial districts, among others.
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