Former governor of Ekiti State and chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Ayodele Fayose, on Sunday, commended the performance of incumbent Governor Biodun Oyebanji of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Fayose, who spoke at a special thanksgiving service at Cathedral Church of Emmanuel Okesa, Ado Ekiti to mark Oyebanji administration’s first year in office, said not only will Oyebanji successfully complete his first term, but he would also get reelection for a second term.
Fayose spoke on behalf of ex-governors of the state, Niyi Adebayo and Kayode Fayemi.
He said, “We are all together for Biodun Oyebanji. I am not a member of your party (APC) and I will not be. I am with you (Oyebanji) hundred per cent.
“Where is Bisi K (Chief Bisi Kolawole, PDP 2022 governorship candidate)? We are going to support you (Oyebanji). You have come to visit me at my house seven times. You are doing it differently and you will get a different result. This church will pray for you and you will do it (governorship) a second time.”
In his remarks, Adebayo said Fayose’s assertion “is the position of we, the former governors. Thank you very much.”
The Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, who spoke earlier, said, “I am looking forward to being the chairman of your (Oyebanji’s) re-election campaign,” adding that “the governor has earned the confidence and trust of the people for a second term.”
Bamidele, who represented the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said, “Governor Oyebanji is entrenching the culture of respect and the culture of performance. He is lucky to have Governors Adebayo, Fayose and Fayemi as mentors and advisers. What he is doing differently is that he is giving the state a new political order, uniting various groups where youths, women, and civil societies consider themselves as stakeholders.
Making his remarks, Oyebanji said he counted himself lucky to be standing on the shoulders of the former governors, whom he described as “giants”.
“Today is about God in our life as people of Ekiti State. It is not because I am the best person in the state or because I know how to do it; it’s not because I am the most brilliant, all is by the grace of God. For the little we have achieved, I give God the glory,” he said.
In his sermon, the Bishop of the Diocese of Ekiti, the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, the Rt. Revd Olusola Ajayi, hailed Oyebanji for making a positive impact in the lives of the people of the state in the last year.