Campaign Council Inauguration: A Key Step Towards Sustaining Oyebanji’s Popular Mandate
The BAO Impact Series No. 26
BY ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA
As the June 20, 2026 governorship election in Ekiti State draws nearer, the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), appears to be steps ahead in the quest for victory and stands as the most formidable party to coast home to victory.
The APC served as the platform upon which Governor Biodun Oyebanji was fielded and a platform through which he canvassed for votes in the 2022 governorship election which brought him to power.
Before coming to power, Governor Oyebanji visited party members in all the 177 wards to seek their support ahead of the primary election trumpeting his readiness and experience as the edge he had above other contestants cutting across intraparty and interparty levels
He maintained that having served under three progressives administrations in the state under Governor Niyi Adebayo (one term) and Governor Kayode Fayemi (two terms) cumulatively for about eleven years, he is undoubtedly the most experienced among those jostling for the exalted office.
After winning the APC ticket through a direct primary election conducted on January 27, 2022, in which all registered and financial members of the party voted, Governor Oyebanji campaigned round the state not less than three times selling his vision and agenda as encapsulated in the six-pillar agenda to the electorate.
Four years down the line, the achievements recorded by his administration are visible to the people and it is on the strength of this that he is offering himself to the electorate for the renewal of the popular mandate he holds in trust for them.
The fact remains that Oyebanji has many achievements to showcase to the electorate be it in infrastructure, human capital development and better welfare for citizens, attraction of investment to the State, turning the state to a well-known hub of commercial farming, better welfare for workers, among others.
Oyebanji is having an edge because of it is on this record of performance, as attested to by development partners and multilateral agencies, that he will be seeking a re-election from the people of the state. His record has since been transformed from promises to concrete achievements.
To ensure victory at the polls, Oyebanji and the ruling party on Monday, March 9, 2026, officially inaugurated a campaign council to coordinate all activities towards reaching out to the electorate in their polling units, wards and local government areas to deliver victory for the flag bearer (Oyebanji).
The 57-member Ekiti APC Governorship Election Campaign Council which is led by the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele has eminent and distinguished party elders and chieftains as members and has been tasked to work hard for the sustenance of the popular mandate held by Oyebanji.
The campaign council is inclusive and brings on board representatives of all stakeholders and primed to strengthen the party’s unity and provide a solid foundation for a successful campaign. It is made up of veterans of many elections in the past whose experience will prove valuable to an Oyebanji victory in the June governorship poll.
As the Oyebanji campaign train moves from one community to the other, from one ward to another and from one local government to another in coming days, the life-changing policies executed, the projects executed, beneficiaries of various empowerment schemes and thousands of citizens who got employment through jobs created in the last four years are evidences of fulfilled promises.
There is hardly any village, town or city that has not benefitted from one project or the other and they are waiting to appreciate with their votes. Provision of roads, schools, hospitals/health centres, palaces, community/town halls, electricity, flood/erosion control, tourism development, markets, among others are projects that can be referred to by the Governor and his campaign train.
Apart from the projects executed and constructed for the benefit of the people, a burgeoning army of supporters has been raised by Oyebanji in the informal sector. These individuals have been empowered through access to credit facilities and tools for their trades which have boosted the grassroots economy in an unprecedented manner.
The Governor’s battlecry that the ruling party should approach the coming election like an underdog showed that he is not given to complacency and proved his readiness to work hard for the votes of the people again despite the avalanche of achievements on ground to justify the faithful execution of the first mandate.
The inauguration of the campaign council also came at a time the APC in Ekiti has been strengthened by the entry of key leaders of the opposition and their supporters as they were attracted by the governor’s inclusive gestures, Omoluabi ethos and popularity in the state based on the impact of his governance in the lives of the people in almost four years.
The foundation for victory has been laid with the inauguration of this high-powered campaign council and what the campaign structure will be aiming at is a return of an unprecedented tally of votes in favour of Oyebanji and his party by the time results will be declared.
Ogunmola serves as Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media (Print Media)