2027: Oyebanji inaugurates Ekiti APC Presidential Campaign Council
.…Tasks members on Voter Tracking, says 90 percent votes for President achievable
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji has inaugurated the State’s All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council with a charge to accelerate grassroots mobilisation and secure victory for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
The inauguration ceremony, held at the Conference Hall of the Governor’s office in Ado-Ekiti on Friday, brought together key party leaders, including the Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Monisade Afuye, Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt. (Hon.) Adeoye Aribasoye, former governors, former Deputy Governors, serving and former members of the national assembly and the state House of Assembly, serving federal political appointees, governorship candidates of other political parties, local government chairmen, and political stakeholders from across the 16 local government areas of the state.
Addressing members of the council shortly after the inauguration, Governor Oyebanji emphasized that the critical task before the council is not organizing campaigns and rallies, but ensuring that registered voters who failed to participate in previous elections are identified and mobilized to vote.
He said the focus should be on unit-by-unit tracking of registered voters across the State.
Reflecting on the state’s gubernatorial poll where the party secured 85.7% of total votes cast, Governor Oyebanji declared that anything short of 90 percent of total number of registered voters for President Tinubu would be a collective failure on the PCC members.
“The real work is to get the voters registered in a unit and identify those who don’t want to vote. Our focus should be on voter tracking.”
Expressing concern over poor turnout figures during the governorship election in June, Governor Oyebanji highlighted the gap between one million registered voters and less than 400,000 citizens who actually voted, tasking the committee to discover why over 600,000 registered cardholders stayed at home, stressing the need to bring them to the polls in January to vote for the President.
Acknowledging potential operational obstacles with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and electronic transmission, the Governor urged party stakeholders to develop strategic workarounds through continuous voter education and mobilization.
“We don’t like to do the heavy lifting. We want to do campaigns, arrange cars and drive round towns. We are notngoingbtonso that this time around. Our real work is to get the voters registered in each unit and identify those who have not come out to vote. After this inauguration, everybody should go out and agree on how we are going to do voter tracking. That is our job.
“We can’t have a quality collection of leaders like this, and still be sitting on 400,000 votes. That is something we should never contemplate. The most important assignment we have now is to track those voters, to track the 600,000 people who did not come out to vote and find out why they did not come out.” The Governor asserted.
Earlier, the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, Barr. Sola Elesin charged members of the Council (PCC) to work assiduously towards securing unprecedented votes for President Tinubu in the January 16, 2027 presidential election.
The APC chairman described the assignment before the council members as a serious national responsibility, expressing confidence that their wealth of political experience and commitment would translate into victory for the President.
Elesin said members of the council had been carefully selected based on their pedigree and previous contributions and proven capacity to deliver electoral victories, urging them to deploy their wealth of experience, political networks and organisational abilities towards ensuring a resounding victory for the party.
He noted that the political landscape in Ekiti had witnessed an unprecedented level of collaboration, with members of other political parties and some governorship candidates also joining the campaign effort. According to the party chairman, the growing coalition reflects the governor’s ability to provide purposeful leadership, demonstrate humility and bring people together, thereby promoting unity and peaceful coexistence in the state.
Delivering an acceptance speech on behalf of the council members, the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, assured President Bola Tinubu and Governor Oyebanji, of the readiness and commitment of members of to deliver an improved electoral performance for the party as he commended the Governor for ensuring that the composition of the council was comprehensive and inclusive of all relevant stakeholders.
He expressed appreciation to the governor for the confidence reposed in the members through their appointments, noting that the inauguration marked the beginning of a serious assignment towards securing victory for President Tinubu in the forthcoming election.
The Senate Leader however cautioned against taking the assignment with levity, stressing that the council was determined to surpass the previous electoral record and secure a significantly higher number of votes for the President in Ekiti State.
While also acknowledging the presence of governorship candidates from other political parties and other political leaders at the inauguration, Senator Bamidele described their participation as significant to the collective political effort to re-elect President Tinubu.
The Senate Leader welcomed them into the council’s fold and urged them to feel at home, noting that many of them had shared political backgrounds and relationships with the APC before moving to other political platforms. He expressed optimism that their renewed political collaboration would produce a historic outcome that none of the stakeholders would regret.