2027: Tinubu’s chances very bright in Ekiti — Oyebanji.

2027: Tinubu’s chances very bright in Ekiti — Oyebanji.

Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stands a chance of garnering overwhelming votes in the forthcoming general elections in his state.

Accompanied by the Leader of the Senate, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, on a visit to President Tinubu at the State House, the Ekiti Governor said the support for the governing All Progressives Congress has continued to grow in his state.

He said: “The President’s chances are very bright. In 2022 when we first contested, we won with about 187,000 votes. Six months later, when the President contested and I had only been in office for a few months, we increased it to about 210,000 votes.

“This 2026 governorship election has produced about 318,000 votes. So you can extrapolate from that and see that our target in 2027 is between 600,000 and 700,000 votes, and it is doable.”

The Ekiti State governor, who just won a fresh mandate, attributed his victory to God and President Tinubu.

“It is not about what I have done differently. It is about two factors: the grace of God, and the support of the President that enabled us to deliver on our promises to our people. These are the two factors that led to the result we saw two weeks ago.”

On what he would do with the fresh mandate he just earned, the Ekiti Governor promised to give priority to Ekiti State’s 30-year development plan, while also assuring that he would continue to run an inclusive administration.

He told State House correspondents that he has commenced a troubleshooting initiative to bring on board all aggrieved members of the APC, as well as rival candidates from opposition parties who lost the election to him.

“The election ended when the winner was declared. I phoned the two other candidates and, together with the chairman of the campaign council, we visited one of them. Once I get back to Ekiti, I will visit the other one.

“They have assured me of their cooperation because election has ended, politics has ended and we have to move back to governance. I told them I would need their wisdom, suggestions and advice in ensuring that we continue to deliver for our people.”

“We are not going to do anything differently because that 30-year development plan is the basis upon which our yearly budgets are built and upon which our manifesto is crafted. We will continue to diligently follow that plan.”

On the Bill for State Police, Governor Oyebanji recalled that most states had submitted their positions in support of the initiative.

“We are ready for state police. We are thankful to the National Assembly for the constitutional amendments, and we are waiting for them to be transmitted to the state Houses of Assembly.

“The governors have made up their minds that they are going to give it speedy approval so that we can start implementation.”