TELL Magazine

Biodun Oyebanji, the winner of the last governorship election in Ekiti State has taken over from Kayode Fayemi, until recently the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, whose tenure ended Sunday October 16. Oyebanji won at a recent election, which is one of the off-season elections in Nigeria. He ran on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the same party that Fayemi represented in office.

The election was held on June 18, 2022 with Oyebanji leading with 187,057 votes to beat Segun Oni, former governor of the state and candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP who scored 82, 211 votes to take the second position and Bisi Kolawole, candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, a party believed to be the closest rival of the ruling APC prior to election. Kolawole scored 67,457 votes.

The election witnessed a low turnout, as only 363,438 voters showed up for accreditation out of the 988,923 registered voters.

The swearing in ceremony was performed by the Chief judge of the state, Justice Oyewole Adeleye. The new governor pledged to preserve, protect and defend people of the state.

Governor Simon Lalong, chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, in a statement, implored Oyebanji to build on the achievements of Fayemi at the state and federal levels. Lalong said Fayemi encouraged colleagues, while he served as chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, to take full advantage of federal institutions for the development of their states. He therefore implored Oyebanji to also build bridges across states.