Ekiti 2026: SDP, APC disagree over Oyebanji’s performance

The Social Democratic Party in Ekiti State and the governing All Progressives Congress have disagreed over the performance of Governor Biodun Oyebanji and expectations from the 2026 governorship election in the state.

SDP State Chairman, Bamikole Ayodele, said that the governor’s dismal performance in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, security, jobs and tourism would make it an easy task for SDP to defeat APC in the 2026 election in a bid to rescue the state.

But APC State Publicity Secretary, Segun Dipe, dismissed SDP as a party that lacked either the capacity to compete with the governing party or to govern Ekiti people, who he said had applauded Oyebanji for his performance in office in all areas and beckoned to him to continue in office for another four years.

Ayodele, speaking in a chat in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, said, “Governor Oyebanji should desist from playing politics with the resources of the state. He is not giving us the best. His election promises are not being fulfilled. Look at the state of infrastructure, there is nothing that can be pointed to as achievements of the present administration in the state.

We need a person who will bring innovation into this system. The system is not running well in the state under Oyebanji, so we have to do something. Our governor has to do something. The governor gets huge allocations and spends them on things that are not necessary. Oyebanji has not done well in the area of agriculture. Ekiti is an agrarian state with fertile land.

“What stops the governor from ensuring there is farm settlement with all necessary facilities like good internet network, electricity, good road network, water, where the young graduates can be gainfully employed in each of the 16 local governments?

The governor should also brace up in the area of security. The roads and farms should be made safe and devoid of those lurking around for kidnapping and other crimes. The government should assure residents that the state is safe for every individual. We should be able to walk freely in any part of the state.”

The SDP chairman, who lamented that the unemployment situation in the state was compounded by the governor’s alleged favouritism and nepotism, said Oyebanji should stop seeing himself as the governor of the APC. He is the governor of Ekiti State, as such, the provision of jobs should not be on the basis of APC”.

But the APC spokesperson, Dipe, dismissed SDP, saying, “As a matter of fact, the governor has done well in all areas, particularly infrastructure, agriculture, security, tourism and job creation. The SDP is in comatose, they are only seeking attention. In the area of agriculture, Oyebanji has done well, in the area of tourism, he has done well, in terms of infrastructure, he has done well. This is the rainy season, so you would not really see people out there doing construction. In the area of infrastructure, go to the hinterlands in Ekiti, and you will see what he has done.

“Are you talking about electricity that some towns and communities, which didn’t have electricity for five, six, seven years before now have their electricity restored, are you talking about the roads – go to places like Ijesa Isu and the likes that had been cut off because of the poor roads. We can talk about several things.

“The governor has done spectacularly well, and people are giving him kudos. It is the voice of the people, and the voice of the people is the voice of God. If people are attesting to the fact that Mr Governor has done well, we will go with them that he has done well. I think the SDP chairman is just trying to look for relevance. He is trying to draw attention to himself. I dare say that SDP is not noticed. They are not in existence as of today.

“So if they are saying that they will defeat us in 2026 and they have not started in 2025, I think it is a joke taken too far. I think they should be ignored. We will not even stretch ourselves regarding the race if it is against SDP because SDP has no such capacity to compete with us,” Dipe said.