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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
As campaigns for the 2027 presidential election gather momentum, the Vice-President, Kashim Shettima; the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari; the Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji; the National Chairman of the APC, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda; Senator Adams Oshiomhole; opposition parties’ candidates in the June 20, 2026 governorship election in Ekiti State, including Dr Wole Oluyede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Alade Adedayo of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Chief Joseph Anifowose of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM); as well as members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, have urged the people of Ekiti State to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid and cast their votes for him in the January election.
They made the remarks at the Ekiti State 2027 Presidential Campaign Rally, held on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, where they commended the President’s bold and courageous efforts in transforming the country.
Speaking at the rally, Shettima, who represented President Tinubu and led the Presidential Campaign Council to Ekiti, thanked the people for re-electing Governor Oyebanji with 85.7 per cent of the votes a few months ago and for standing with the administration when it undertook the difficult task of rescuing the economy.
“Four years ago, we came before you to seek your votes, your trust, and your mandate to turn the fortunes of our great nation around. We have returned today to thank you for standing with us when we undertook the difficult task of rescuing our economy from the brink. We know the sacrifices you have made, and we are beginning to reap the benefits of those difficult decisions,” Shettima said.
He recalled that in 2023, Ekiti was the first state to declare presidential election results, giving the APC 201,495 votes in a clean sweep of all 16 Local Government Areas, all three senatorial seats and all six House of Representatives seats. He noted that the opponents in the last governorship election, Dr Wole Oluyede of the PDP, Mr Alade Adedayo of the SDP and Joseph Anifowose of the APM, were now supporting the APC presidential candidate, adding: “A total registered vote of 1,028,000 votes. It is our privilege, hope, and prayer that on 16 January 2027, APC will garner 90 per cent to 95 per cent of the votes cast.”
The Vice-President dismissed the opposition, particularly the African Democratic Congress (ADC), saying politics is not played on social media. “The opposition can rant and run, but there are no polling booths on Instagram or on Facebook. The ADC candidate in the last election in Ekiti State got 12,000 votes. There is no presence of ADC in Ekiti State,” he said.
Shettima also questioned the home-base strength of the former Vice-President and presidential candidate of the ADC, Atiku Abubakar, saying none of the five governors Adamawa State has produced since 1999 is standing with him.
“If you cannot control your own state, if you are not relevant in your home base, how can you tell others to elect you? Politics is about grassroots control. Politics is a game of nerves, not of emotion,” Shettima said, challenging opponents to show what they had accomplished in Ekiti, Osun, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kano, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers.
Shettima listed federal projects in Ekiti, including work on the Ado-Akure road, reconstruction of the Itawure-Aramoko-Iyin road and other road interventions, the establishment of the Federal University of Technology and Environmental Sciences, NELFUND loans to students of Ekiti State University and Bamidele Olumilua University, a new ICT Experience Centre at Ekiti State University, and approval for a Mining and Geosciences Institute in Ekiti.
“Because Ekiti is a land of professors, we must talk about education. Our obligation is to make sure that poverty does not shut the classroom doors,” he said, adding that some projects had been completed, others were under construction and many more were awaiting execution. “We seek your mandate to complete the works we have begun. We will build on the commitments we have made and carry the mission to its conclusion,” he said.
The Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Abdulaziz Yari, called on Ekiti voters to deliver at least 800,000 votes for Tinubu, representing about 90 per cent of the expected votes in the state.
The former governor of Zamfara State said the APC-led administration had recorded progress in addressing economic challenges, including inflation, food prices and exchange-rate pressures, and challenged opposition parties to explain what they intended to do differently.
He also expressed confidence in the support of northern voters for Tinubu, saying the President had earned another opportunity to complete the reforms initiated by his administration.
The Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, urged the people to vote massively for candidates of the APC in the January election: “I look forward to all people of Ekiti coming out in their number to vote Mr President, to vote the National Assembly members, to vote the Senators, vote the House of Reps and vote also the House of Assembly. Thank you and God bless you.”
The National Chairman of the APC, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, who presented the party’s candidates from the President down to the National Assembly and State House of Assembly, said both the President and the Governor were elected on the basis of performance.
“He is a performer. He is a reformer. He has reformed our tax system. In those days, that simple mama-put woman will pay tax. The woman who is selling chicken will pay tax. Every woman selling vegetables pays tax. Today, all those small mama-put women selling in the market, people that have less than 100 million Naira per annum don’t pay tax,” Yilwatda said.
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He added that the reason even parents of the poor would vote for the President was that their children had access to education through NELFUND, with a N20,000 monthly maintenance allowance.
“Today, I present President Bola Tinubu again for a second term. People of Nigeria, come out on the 16th of January to ensure that we return President Bola Tinubu for a second term,” he said, urging Ekiti people to also return Senator Opeyemi Bamidele and other National Assembly candidates and, in February, vote all APC House of Assembly members.
The Senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, Adams Oshiomhole, defended the Tinubu administration’s economic, security and workers’ welfare policies.
He said the President approved a N70,000 minimum wage to improve workers’ living conditions and had strengthened the country’s security architecture through additional military formations and recruitment into security agencies.
Oshiomhole also criticised previous administrations over the decline of major industries, including textile companies, Michelin and Dunlop, arguing that the Tinubu government was taking steps to address the country’s economic challenges through its reforms.
Governor Oyebanji, in his remarks, urged the people of the state to vote for President Tinubu again in 2027, reminding them that the President had supported Ekiti in return after the 2023 election.
“You voted for me, you voted for the President. Your result was the first to be declared throughout the federation. And you did very well. And on the basis of that, the support of Mr President for our administration has been unprecedented in a 30-year history as a state. I stand to be corrected. Since the creation of Ekiti State, no president has been this good to Ekiti people,” Oyebanji said.
He recalled that in May this year, the President sent the Vice-President to Ekiti twice – first to commission projects and second to campaign – with one message: that if the people were happy with the performance of their governor, they should return him to office. On June 20, they returned the APC with an unprecedented 85.7 per cent of the votes.
Oyebanji said that victory was not for him alone but for President Tinubu and the APC, adding that the President had promised to do more for Ekiti on one condition – that he be returned as President.
“Mr Vice-President, sir, our message to Mr President is that there is no problem in Ekiti State. We have made up our minds that come January 16th, we are going to double the tally of what we did in June this year. We are one, Ekiti is united,” he said.
He noted that all the worthwhile candidates of other political parties that contested against him in June were present, alongside former governors Ayo Fayose, Niyi Adebayo and Kayode Fayemi, while Governor Segun Oni sent his apology.
“I can say it boldly here, that there is no problem in Ekiti State. We are going to return the President with nothing less than 80% of total votes in Ekiti State. That is a charge to all Ekiti people,” Oyebanji declared, saying January 16 would be an opportunity for Ekiti people to say thank you to a President who constructed the Ado-Akure road, awarded the contract for the Ilawe-Ado road, awarded the contract for the reconstruction of the Itawure-Aramoko-Iyin-Ado road, and did a lot for women.
The Ekiti PDP governorship candidate in the June 2026 election, Dr Wole Oluyede, stunned the crowd when he mounted the podium to declare support for the President.
“We, from the opposition parties, are standing firm and standing by our Governor today. And we are showing the Governor, and the President, that we are going to deliver 99% of the votes to him.
“There is no opposition in Ekiti. Governor Biodun Oyebanji has done good works in Ekiti. The President has been kind and generous to us, and we see his good work,” Oluyede said.
Oluyede urged all sons and daughters of Ekiti to come out en masse in January to vote for the President, saying: “We have 1,028,000 votes to deliver and I am looking forward to that.”
