Bamidele backs Oyebanji’s re-election, says Ekiti needs Lagos-style continuity

Ahead of the 2026 Ekiti State governorship election, the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, has said that the state deserves the beauty and progress that comes with continuity as obtained in Lagos State.

Bamidele, who spoke in Ado Ekiti on Friday evening during a ‘Thank you visit’ to the All Progressives Congress State Executive Committee members, said he was in the state to contest as a delegate to participate in the APC governorship primary election billed for Monday.

The Ekiti APC Delegates’ Congress to select delegates for the October 27 primaries will hold on Saturday, October 25.

The delegates are to, during the primary election, affirm Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, as the party candidate for the June 20, 2026 governorship poll.

Recall that the APC had announced Oyebanji as the party’s consensus candidate in Ekiti State following the withdrawal of the second aspirant, Mrs Atinuke Olayemi Omolayo, leaving only the governor in the race.

The party had earlier disqualified the remaining two aspirants, Kayode Ojo and Abimbola Olawumi.

The Senate Leader said that the APC in the state was “looking forward to a governorship primary devoid of rancour where no man will be molested, where no one will lose his life by the grace of God, and where there will be no spilling of blood.

Of course, we expect continuity. Anyone familiar with what has happened in Lagos State between 1999 and now will understand the beauty and progress that come with continuity – the harvest of development, economic growth and infrastructure advancement that follow a stable leadership trajectory”.

Bamidele, who said that the governor, who is the APC consensus candidate, had done well and deserved a second term, however, spoke on the need for genuine reconciliation among all forces in the party.

He said, “Well, from the party, I expect a celebration of life that all of us are alive to witness yet another season of election. As you all know, Ekiti gubernatorial election is an off-season election. It will hold in June 2026, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission timetable.

But before then, there will have to be governorship primaries, which is why I am home. As you also know, our party prescribed three modes of primaries direct, indirect, or consensus.

“The party, after screening all four aspirants, cleared two. And one of the two who were cleared also wrote a beautiful letter to the party, thanking the party for the opportunity to participate in the process and announcing that she was endorsing the other aspirant, who is Governor Oyebanji.

“So, at that point, the party decided that the only option left was the consensus option. However, our constitution requires that even at consensus, there must be an affirmation.

“So on Saturday (today), by God’s grace, we are going to be holding our congresses in our various wards. That’s also part of why I’m home because for me to be a delegate, I have to go to my ward and contest election to be one. The delegates will then meet on Monday to ratify the consensus candidate of the party”.

While reacting to the protest on Friday by some persons over the Ekiti APC governorship issue at the national secretariat in Abuja, Bamidele said, “I would say that for as long as we still have even one person in Nigeria who can be mobilised for whatever reason to carry a placard and protest over something he or she knows nothing about, it shows that we still have work to do.

“We will continue to reach out to them. We’ll continue to do our best to ensure reconciliation among all forces.”

The Senate Leader said that Oyebanji had done well in the last three years with the limited resources that accrued to the state.

He said, “This is not Rivers State. This is not Akwa Ibom State. This is Ekiti, a state with limited resources. Go around the state, invite our Ekiti people to come home and see what the government has done.

“Invite those who live outside Ekiti but criticise this administration, challenge them to come and see the developments on the ground. Let them go around and see what is happening with the limited resources of this state. Unless we are looking for a magician as governor, I think the record speaks for itself.

“As far as I’m concerned, I am where I am, not by coercion. I don’t expect magic from the governor, but I know that given the limited resources, our governor has done well.”