Ekiti guber: We’re not jittery, but we won’t be complacent — Governor Oyebanji

Ahead of the off-cycle gubernatorial election in Ekiti State in 2026, the Governor of Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji, spoke to TOPE OMOGBOLAGUN on a number of issues on governance, politics, women in leadership, agriculture, and the future of the state. Excerpts:

Apparently, this is the first time we will have a consensus arrangement in APC where all the tendencies within the party are saying it has to be you. How did you achieve this?

Well, thank you so much, and before I answer that question, once again, thank you for the honour of your presence in Ekiti State. I’m happy that you are here to see for yourselves what we have been able to do in three years.

What happened today is historic. In the history of this state, we are 29 years old as a state, and no democratically elected government has been able to pull this kind of feat. There has been no time that a government succeeds itself. So, by God’s grace, if we win next year June, we’ll be the first government that will run back-to-back.

We have had governors that have spent two terms, but usually they will lose an election, leave, and then return back to office.

And that has been the bane of our development because there is always policy truncation.

When a government comes, it abandons the projects and policies of the former. It will start its own, and it will spend four years; it will go, and another government will come.

When we were fighting for this state, by providence, I was the Secretary of the Committee for the Creation of Ekiti State. I was a very young man then; I was 26 years then. I worked with the founding fathers of the state, and I sat at meetings with them. I know their desire for Ekiti; I know the visions of the founding fathers of this state, and there’s no politician in Ekiti State today that has the kind of experience I’ve had in public service.

Before I became governor, I’d put eleven years into public service. I started as a Senior Special Assistant, later became a Special Adviser, and later became the Chief of Staff to Governor Niyi Adebayo. We left in 2003, and then Dr. Kayode Fayemi came in 2010. So, there was a seven-year hiatus. We came back in 2010, and I worked with Dr. Fayemi for four years.

I served in three different capacities; Commissioner for Integration and Intergovernmental Affairs; Head, Office of Strategy and Service Delivery; and Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning. The government lost re-election in 2014. In 2018, Dr. Fayemi came back, and I was appointed Secretary to the State Government.

So, I have seen governance at very close range, and those two appointments as Chief of Staff and SSG made me work very closely with the two governors.

I’ve seen them taking decisions and facing the consequences. So, I cannot claim not to have the experience when it comes to governance.

I told myself when I got to this seat that all these mistakes they’ve made, I have to avoid them. It was intentional on my part.

I also discovered that the former governors didn’t have good relationships with one another. When Governor Segun Oni was governor, we had a meeting in Ilupeju, and I told him, “Your Excellency, why don’t you do something like the Council of State — like an association or a forum of former governors to meet quarterly?” He said he would do it, but he didn’t.

I’m going to do it in my second term. We are going to send a bill to the House of Assembly that will make it mandatory for any governor to have such a meeting once in a quarter.

So, when I became governor, I made up my mind to be at peace with everyone. Governor Fayose did something that shocked me.

His party contested against our party, and the day I won, he called the candidate of his party to congratulate me and told him to also write a letter of congratulation and not go to court. He did that.

This same Kayode Ojo took me to court on pre-election matters; it ran to the Supreme Court. Engr. Segun Oni took me to court; it ran to the Supreme Court. For two years, I was in and out of court. So, if Fayose had added his own to it, I would have had three cases. At a point, I had 35 court cases. So, I went to him and said, “Why did you do this?” He said, “Look, I am now matured, and I can rise beyond politics and be a statesman. You deserve every support that you can get.”

Some may ask how I relate so well with all the former governors. I just respect them. If they want to see me, I go to their houses. I don’t allow them to come to my office. I call them; I check on them. If they have social functions, I go there, that is all. But people assume that maybe I’m giving them money. No, it’s not like that. Even if you give money and you don’t respect them, they will just take the money and not support you.

But it has got to a point now where I can pick my phone and call Governor Fayose or call his wife. It’s that kind of relationship I have with them, and I also have relationships with their children. So, we are members of the same family, and the people are happy for that. We are able to plan our life; people are able to sleep with their two eyes closed.

There is no tension in town; there’s no violence, and everybody is happy. The state is better for it. It is just mutual respect and understanding.

There’s been clamouring in recent times for reserved seats for women generally in politics… What are your plans for women in Ekiti ahead of 2027?

If you look at our record, we are one of the best in the country when it comes to gender equality and affirmative action.

We have the highest number of females in the House of Assembly in the country today. My deputy is a woman; my Head of Service is a woman; the SSG is a woman; the accountant-general is a woman, and the accountant-general for local government is a woman.

We have so many women serving as councillors, vice chairmen, and chairmen of local government councils.

Maybe one or two states can beat our record. That is the tradition I met on ground because my predecessor’s wife, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, is a gender activist. So, we have a strong structure to protect the rights of women.

But it should go beyond political appointments and elective offices.

There are also spaces for those in the informal sector. We must ensure that we provide resources for them to support their businesses and their trades. In every area and department of government, there’s a desk for affirmative action. As for the reserved seats, you know that depends on the National Assembly. If I am going to tell you the truth, it’s going to be a bit tough, but we must keep the conversation ongoing.

I have observed the progress your administration has made in road infrastructure and health. How are you applying the same level of commitment to agriculture, given Ekiti’s rich land and potential?

Agriculture is one area that we have invested so much in, and Mr. President has been supportive.

In the last one year, we have been able to pull from the streets to the farm 5,000 youths across 13 clusters in the state. We clear land for them, give them improved seedlings, do tractorisation, land preparation, and development, and we also set up an aggregation company to buy from them.

We have now scaled it up to also building what we call the Renewed Hope Farm Dormitories.

If you go to Ikere, I don’t know why you didn’t get to one of them, the dormitory is built as hostels for males and females, with a security house, kitchen, common room, internet, and DSTV for their comfort.

You can decide to stay on the farm for three to five days, and you will not miss anything in the city. We provide buses and security for all the clusters.

We are doing this in partnership with the local government. It’s something I’m so proud of because there’s no kind of formal employment that can pull 5,000 people off the streets at once. The Governor of Edo State, His Excellency Monday Okpebholo, will be here to commission a road project and one of the dormitories on Wednesday. We have done six dormitories across six clusters in the state. Our intention is to scale it up to 16 because we have 16 local government areas. The challenge they are having presently is commuting to the farm every day, which is not good for them, but now they can sleep over. They are making so much money and they are happy, and I am so excited.

To your first question on godfatherism, I think I have been lucky because in Ekiti State, we don’t have a history of a predecessor lording it over his successor. And do you know why? Because we never had continuity.

How do you talk to a man who doesn’t belong to your political party? The closest we’ve had was Governor Niyi Adebayo and Governor Kayode Fayemi, not because they succeeded each other, but because Otunba Adebayo brought Dr. Fayemi to Ekiti.

Governor Adebayo left government in 2003, and Governor Fayemi didn’t come until 2010. Immediately Fayemi became governor, Adebayo left the state.

I was in that government; he didn’t come back. In fact, at a point, people were insinuating they were quarrelling, but when I asked him, he said, “Look, I’ve given you someone that can be governor, so why should I disturb him?”

The same thing happened when he came back. I worked with Governor Fayemi as Secretary to the State Government. In fairness to him, when it comes to policy options and everything, he doesn’t disturb me at all, except when I call him to ask for advice

So, we don’t have that problem. When he asked me to run, he didn’t give me any conditions.

Yes, there may be political interests, people going to him to ask him to talk to me for appointments, but those are things you can manage.

I was telling the Edo and Kogi governors yesterday that once I leave as governor, I will just allow the next governor to run his show.

Having faced these troubles for eight years, one should go and rest.

This state is known as the Fountain of Knowledge. How are you ensuring education matches that reputation?

Coming to education, we pride ourselves as one of the most educated states in the country. We have the highest PhD per capita in the country.

There’s no household in the state that doesn’t have a PhD holder. But are we still that strong? No. To reverse the trend, we decided to strike a balance between what you teach, how you teach, and where you teach. What you teach refers to the currency of the curriculum how current and relevant it is. How you teach refers to the methodologies and the welfare of teachers and staff. Where you teach refers to the environment is it inviting and conducive?

Our policy in education addresses all those gaps, and we are doing that at the primary school level through UBEC. But we don’t have that structure for our secondary schools. By God’s grace, in our second term, we will focus on secondary education because I’m not happy with the state of our secondary schools.

You cannot have good primary schools and bad secondary schools. Once we strike a balance between content, welfare, and environment, the outcomes will be okay.

Having overcome the APC hurdles with the party ticket, are you jittery that the opposition might truncate your second tenure aspiration?

Politicians are incurably optimistic, but I’m not. People will say that Ekiti is becoming a one-party state, yes, but like you said, we have opposition. We are waiting to know their candidates; then we will know the strategy to deploy. They don’t have a candidate yet, but we will work until the election is won because the election has implications for the 2027 presidential election. Once their candidate emerges, we will craft the appropriate strategy to deal with that. But are we jittery? No. But we won’t be complacent either, and we will not assume that it is Eldorado. We will work till the last minute.

At the end of your tenure, where do you expect Ekiti to be?

We have a 30-year development plan that is the offshoot of our campaign manifesto. The development plan stipulates where we should be at the end of every year. By 2030, by the grace of God, we envision a state that will be economically prosperous; a state that will have industries, where people will be able to live, work, and invest. A secure state where the indigenes will be proud to call their own.

Our benchmark is the development plan, and every year we benchmark ourselves against it. But we also have to review it now.