Afenifere Renewal Group Adopts Ekiti SSG, Oyebanji, for Governor
By Aisha Abass
Former Ekiti State Secretary to the State Government, (SSG) Mr Abiodun Oyebanji received a boost today for his governorship ambition.
In a statement on Thursday, the Socio-cultural and Political Organisation,The Afenifere Renewal Group(ARG), Ekiti State Chapter said it has adopted the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, for the 2022 governorship on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
Oyebanji, with the political acronym BAO, on Tuesday, resigned his position and subsequently procured the expression of interest form on Wednesday at the APC National Secretariat at Blantyre road, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The ARG Coordinator in Ekiti , Elder Bunmi Akanbi Awotiku, said Oyebanji was one of the foundation members of the Afenifere Renewal Group in Nigeria and one of the young turks that fought hard for the creation of Ekiti State on October 1, 1996 .
Awotiku, in statement signed by ARG Public Relations Officer, Prince Michael Ogungbemi, in Ado Ekiti after the group’s monthly meeting of December 8, 2021, said the leadership and members of ARG has unanimously adopted Oyebanji for his competence, commitment and contributions to the development of the state from inception.
The statement noted that apart from the huge developmental strides of BAO in Ekiti, he has been an unapologetic advocate of regional integration and autonomy in the South West, Nigeria. Therefore, the agitation for regional autonomy would further become more amplified at higher pedestal with him in the saddle of governance in Ekiti.
Also,ARG said Oyebanji has been a vanguard of progressive politics right from the return of democratic rule in 1999 and has been the fulcrum of the policy formulation and implementation of the remarkably performing administration of the quintessential Executive Governor of Ekiti State and the chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum, His Excellency, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi since 2018.
ARG said having undergone political tutelage under exemplary leadership of our revered leader and former Executive Governor, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and the incumbent, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, and having acquired unquantifiable administrative Experince and management acumen as well as considerable understanding of Ekiti people, BAO is considered eminently qualified to be the next Governor of Ekiti State to consolidate on the impressive achievements of the present government.
Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Ekiti State Chapter, therefore, unanimously adopted Mr. Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, BAO, as a worthy aspirant to continue the good work of Dr. John Kayode Fayemi as the next Governor of Ekiti State in 2022. Added to this was his fraternity and unrepentant identification with any progressive issue about Ekiti and the developmental strides of the Yoruba race.
The ARG resolved to support BAO in all ways possible to attain his lofty dream of making Ekiti Land a microcosm of development through sustenance of the rocky foundation being laid by Governor Fayemi .