OSV Warns Against Rumour-Mongering, Reaffirms Support for Oyebanji’s Re-Election.

OSV Warns Against Rumour-Mongering, Reaffirms Support for Oyebanji’s Re-Election.

The Oyebanji Street Vanguard (OSV), a grassroots mobilization group in Ekiti State, has raised the alarm over what it described as a deliberate attempt by some political actors to destabilise the state’s political atmosphere ahead of the 2026 governorship election.

In a statement made available to journalists on Friday, the group alleged that certain “unscrupulous and overzealous” individuals had resorted to spreading unfounded rumours against prominent political leaders in the state, having realised they stand no chance against the incumbent governor, Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji.

The statement added that the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as well as the state, local government and ward executives of the party, remained fully committed to Governor Oyebanji’s aspiration.

It further listed the Ekiti National Assembly caucus, the 26 state House of Assembly members, members of the State Executive Council, past governors—including those who served on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)—as well as the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, among stakeholders backing Oyebanji’s re-election bid.

The OSV maintained that every support for Oyebanji was also a vote of confidence in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whom it described as a symbol of progressive governance.

 “Every vote and every support given to Governor Biodun Oyebanji is automatically a vote for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. Ekiti remains firmly committed to the progressive agenda, and no amount of rumour or blackmail can change that,” the group declared.

According to the group, the “campaign of calumny” targeted at former governor Adeniyi Adebayo, ex-governor Kayode Fayemi and Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, was part of a larger strategy to sow division within the progressive fold in Ekiti.

The group, however, urged residents to disregard such claims, stressing that there was no crack in the unity of the party’s leadership in the state.

“The ship of good governance and development in Ekiti State has already left the harbour. On the stable atmosphere of continuity, we shall get to our desired destination,” the statement read in part.

The OSV reaffirmed its commitment to mobilising support for Oyebanji’s re-election in 2026, declaring: “Forward ever, backward never.”