By Odunayo Ogunmola

Copyright tribuneonlineng

THE massive crowds that welcomed him to the Town Hall Meetings/Citizens’ Engagement in preparation for the 2026 Budget and the attendant excitement told the story and they were both visible to the blind and audible to the deaf. These are tell-tale indications that the people of Ekiti State are truly in love with Governor Biodun Oyebanji and they are ready to reward him with a new term in office if his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), fields him as its candidate for the June 20, 2026 governorship election. From 24th to 25th of September, 2025, across the three senatorial districts- Ekiti South, Ekiti North and Ekiti Central- the Governor once again reached out to the people in the grassroots to ask for their requests in terms of projects and other forms of empowerment to be incorporated into the 2026 Budget as it is his usual practice every year. Apart from asking for the requests of the communities, Oyebanji used the opportunity of the forum to give account on how his administration had spent their resources that accrued to the state on projects and also shed more light on the policy thrust of his administration. At Ise Ekiti, where Oyebanji met communities from the six local government areas of Ekiti South Senatorial District; Otun Ekiti where he interfaced with communities from the five local government areas of Ekiti North and Ijero Ekiti where he interacted with communities from Ekiti Central, the consensus was that the Governor has done well and he deserves a re-election.

In all the three locations, it was a carnival of approval and more endorsement for a Governor who had worked hard in the last three years to scale up the development of Ekiti in virtually all key sectors and the hard work to ensure an Ekiti the founding fathers envisaged is still on the full throttle. Through the town hall meetings, Oyebanji has involved the citizenry in running the affairs of the state; he has positively engaged them in contributing to the making of decisions that affect them; through the interactive forum, the views and the opinions of the people have counted. Rather than being ensconced in his cosy office in Ado Ekiti and ram policies and projects down the throats of the citizens, Oyebanji has taken governance to the people in their natural habitats, in their places of residence and the people feel wanted, feel loved and feel appreciated. Why won’t they root for him to continue? These appreciative people include traditional rulers, their chiefs, community leaders, religious leaders, labour leaders, youth organizations, student bodies, civil servants, market women, artisans, people living with disabilities, retirees, transporters and the ordinary men and women on the streets.

During the tour, they were given voice to speak and to interact with their Governor who directly felt their pulse. He raptly listened to them, fixed his gaze on them, conscientiously took down notes by himself as they spoke, made a sense of what they were saying and accurately and sincerely provided the answers they needed. The interface served as a festival of appreciation of what the previous budgets (2022, 2023 and 2024) had achieved and a means of charting a direction and seeking the opinion of the people on the projects that are of priority to them. The Ekiti publics really showed gratitude to Oyebanji and pointed to projects they had advocated in the previous projects which had been executed, completed and inaugurated for public use and for the benefit of this present and coming generations.

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Such projects include neighbourhood, community, rural, township and state roads, general hospitals and community health centers, primary and secondary schools, electricity, potable water, civic centres, town halls and palaces, security posts and installations, farm settlements and clusters for commercial agriculture etc. It offered an opportunity to review ongoing projects and policies, suggestions on collaboration between local governments, local council development areas and the state government on governance, security and boosting of the grassroots economy. The forum also gave the locals the opportunity of celebrating the highest budget transparency rating received by Ekiti under the watch of Oyebanji from BudgIT, which rated the state as number one in Nigeria for Quarter 2, an award it has scooped for six times in a row. This is an indication that Ekiti is in safe hands and that is why the communities also demanded continuity of the Oyebanji administration from 2026 to 2030. There was a consensus that the governor has so far used the mandate he received in 2022 to better their lots.

Ahead of the APC governorship primary slated for October 27, 2025 and the governorship election scheduled for June 20, 2026, the communities have spoken loud and clear in support of an Oyebanji candidacy. The citizens’ engagement/town hall meetings was a referendum for Oyebanji’s continuity for sustained development of Ekiti State and they are ready to speak with their votes to make it a reality.

•Ogunmola is Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media (Print Media)