‘Oyebanji is governor of infrastructural development’

Former member of the House of Representatives and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bimbo Daramola, spoke with Assistant Editor ERIC IKHILAE on the two years of Oyebanji Administration in Ekiti State and expectations about more dividends of democracy.

The Governor of Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji is two years old in office. In what areas has he positively impacted the state?

I think Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji of Ekiti State has provided leadership in real terms over the last two years.

We are in a position to talk about this because we have seen what people have done in the past and outside of our state over this period.

When people go to the polls to put their personal sovereignty in the hand of anybody, they have expectations. And these expectations border on life and death.

They are expecting that before the end of the four-year term, we should be able to find out, just as the Americans would say: has our lives been better for it?

So, the question I am asking every Ekiti person at this point in time is: has your life been better for it since the last two years that you have invested in voting Governor Biodun Abayomi into office?

For me, I will says absolutely, the lives of the people of Ekiti is better for it. Some may want to dissect it and talk about infrastructure, human development and all of that. I would agree that those are indexes that we must look out for

We must also look out for other factors.

I believe strongly that every leadership or government would be rated based on the level of sensitivity that such leader exhibits or shows. Leadership implies that you should be able to consider how your time in office affects the lives of the less privileged, the lives of the young people, the lives of the people who are beleaguered, and all of that.

And, of course, for our example in Ekiti State, I believe that Governor Biodun Oyebanji has done reasonably well.

In what areas do you think he has made positive impacts so far?

In the area of investment in human capital, I know too well that in the past two years, this governor had invested substantially, not only in the training and retraining of the civil servants, he has also invested in our state’s owned institutions, including the university and related academic institutions.

Only recently, maybe like two days ago, and this is like the fourth time, he had a pay out of N3.9billion in pensions and gratuities to citizens who had served the state at the prime of their lives. What bothers me is that in Nigeria we are too casual when we see things that have beyond provisional dimension.

If you have a 95-year old man or 97-year old man like mine, who had spent 40, 30, 35 years of his life in our state and he has something to look forward to at the end of his time in service, a governor, who is conscionable knows that he should not withhold their pensions and gratuities.

The question to ask is that: how come he (Oyebanji) is paying areas of pensions and gratuities in the first place?

I had also been sensitive and alive. I spoke about leadership being sensitive and all of that. Do you know that for some of these people, the ultimate satisfaction they want in life is that day that they will collect that pay cheque and say thank God my career has ended on a glowing note.

This governor, on a softer side, said: ‘I don’t want publicity, I don’t even want to be celebrated for that. I am just living up to the responsibility of my office.’

He paid N3.9b and this is like the fourth time he is paying those gratuities and pensions, not only to Local Government people, but also to state employees, who had put in 35 years.

To what extent has the governor improved on security in Ekiti State?

Not only that, let’s come to the issue of security. You would recollect that about five months ago, two of our Kabiyesis (traditional rulers) were killed by bandits. And, you know this governor’s style, without making noise about it, he picked up the gauntlet and proceeded to Abuja to harvest contacts and relationships.

Within two or three days, the President assented, the Inspector General of Police assented, the Chief of Army Staff assented to the request and they deployed people on the ground in Ekiti State, working with the Amotekun structure and the local workforce. And today, we can say that our state is relatively safer for it.

*Has the governor improved on the road infrastructure in your state?

In the area of road infrastructure, he has also done well. Let people go and verify all that I am saying. Let them go there.

In 2014 I was the head of Dr. Fayemi’s campaign. I was moving all over the state at that time. There was stretch of road that was not in a good shape. The road is called Obisesan/Ala road. In 2014 the road was like a foot path. But in 2024, Governor Oyebanji has opened up that place. And today, I have been told that there are not less than 15 or 20 of such roads.

I am aware of the one he has done between Itapa, Omu and Ijelu. I travelled on that road recently.

On the issue of electricity, for the last 20 years, in Omuo Ekiti in Ekiti East and the place they call Ekamefa, Epole Ilero, Ikogosi, Erijiyan among others communities in South Western part of the state, no body who is 20 years old could say he/she had seen electricity light.

But things have changed within the last one year.

If you go to Ikogosi now, the warm spring and related facilities have been concessioned to be managed by private operators. If you go there now you will think you are in the Bahamas. It is managed by private sector because of maximum productivity. It has been shown remarkably well in this country that government has no business in business.

What has the governor done in the areas of agriculture and youth empowerment?

*In the agriculture sector, he is empowering the youths. I am aware that the government acquired a large piece of land around Itapaji Yemero, known for its very supra fertile land and he has encouraged about 1000 young people to be cultivating the land.

The governor had tilled the ground, provide the youths with improved seedlings and fertilizer.

I am also aware that less than two weeks ago, the governor personally visited these farmsteads in Ipole Iloro and other places, talking about conviction.

I guarantee you that by this time next year, there will be remarkable food security in Ekiti State.

I have political capital in Ekiti State. I am not joking. By reason of what people know me for and by reason of what God had given me the opportunity to do when I was a member of the House of Representatives. I am not one who plays to the gallery. For everything that I have said about the Governor Oyebanji’s administration, people should fact check me.

It is a growing practice among politicians to abandon inherited projects once they assume office. Is that the case in Ekiti?

Believing that government is a continuum, this governor has also not abandoned the projects he inherited from past administrations. One of which is the airport project. I never believed in the airport project from day one. I wrote against it. I was vehemently against it. But, he (the governor) said what do we do with the investment that we have put into it. That was what he asked me when as asked him if the his government will continue to throw money at the project.

He asked me if it was wise to allow what had been spent on it to go to waste. That is a governor who is mindful about every penny of Ekiti State.

What are those things that you admire in Governor Oyebanji?

What appeals to me most about him is his incredible capacity to reconcile contending factors.

I was a foundation member of the APC. I started as a member of the ACD, AC, ACN and then APC. I went to the parliament as a member of the ACN.

We were those at the seventh National Assembly that maintained the base of the triangle for the APC.

At some point, the immediate administration in the state did not want to see us. Myself, Oyetunde Ojo, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, my egbon, Senator Ganiyu , Obafemi Ojudu and a number of people. We were practically hounded and hunted out of town. But within the time he came into office and now, he has reconciled everybody. The heating and reconciliation were done by the man I call a man with the spirit of togetherness, in the person of the incumbent governor.

Today, Governor Biodun Oyebanji has reconciled virtually everybody. Senator Opeyemi Bamidele is on the table, Ojudu is on the table, uncle Dayo is on the table, Oye Ojo is on the table , Bimbo Daramola is on the table, and many more.

Up until the governor came, there was a political fatua placed on all of us. But today, is it not incumbent on us, having seen what works, for us to begin to say, okay, it makes a lot of sense to allow this man to run out his tenure in peace.

Another part of this man that interests me is his frugal nature. He is not extravagant and he lead by example. The is a governor who has not acquired a new governor’s fleet. He has been using the one he inherited. If he had bought it it would have cost the state not less than N50million in treated armoured vehicles.

The governor said no, that is not my priority. I met his wife on the plane one day and I said, madam you are travelling with only two aides. I expected to see a large entourage, but she said her husband warned her that it was important that they be sensitive to the people and the environment where we lead.

This man has been in government for two years, and he has not celebrated his birthday ostentatiously. He does not have any programme on the television to advertise him. I once volunteered to facilitate his appearance on television, but he declined, saying ‘let the Ekiti people and our works advertise us,’

Sometime ago, he had an assignment Imo State, another in one of the South South states, a third one in Lagos and another one in Abuja. Somebody that I know offered him an aircraft, a private jet. But, he respectfully declined and told the man ‘how many Ekiti people will I tell that I am not using their money to fly private jet?’

He has been to Abuja a number of times and 95 percent of those trips are driven by development and partnerships. He has been abroad twice in two years. If you see his convoy, the vehicles are not more than four; very Spartan.

This is a man who has seen it all a PHD holder, a former lecturer in the university, a former Chief of Staff, a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), a former commissioner in the state.

What do you think informed Governor Oyebanji’s approach to governance?

I think his approach is driven by the fact that, at a young age, he had the privilege of being the youngest member of the Ekiti State Creation Committee and he was the secretary. Maybe he was able have a sneak preview into the vision of our forefathers, who fought for the creation of Ekiti State. Maybe that is why he is so modest and his modesty is reeking all over the place.

At a pint in our state, the royalty and the government were in crisis. We were suspended. At a point in time Baba Afe Babalola was not on the same page with the government. At a point in time, Chief Wole Olanipekun was not in tandem with the government. If a state could be that gifted to have the likes of Baba Afe Babalola, and then Chief Wole Olanipekun, Femi Falana and others and yet we can’t distil values from them. But today, all of them are on the page. Only recently, the Senate Leader himself, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele declared, this is somebody who would have been another gubernatorial hopeful in 2006, he said no, he was not ruling. That would be the umpteenth that he would be saying that.

So, you will expect that there are what these people have seen in this man.

And for me as a person, this is like the new day of Ekiti politics. I think this governor is going to birth a new political order that will be accommodating and all embracing, because it is only in the moment of peace and environment of amity that we can savour the delight and opportunities that are inherent in our state.

*What areas should he focus on in the remaining part of his tenure?

In the next two years, I would expect that the governor will step up and improve on whatever he is doing now in infrastructure, human capital development and reconciling people and all that. I think he has done well with reconciliation because of what we have seen.

Recall that Ekiti State is one of the few states where the youths did not protest during the #EndBadGovernance protest.vWhat that suggets is endorsement. You must have secured the trust of the people before they say no, no, we won’t go to this street. And that was not because he induced anybody. Don’t forget that young people in Ekiti are very, very critical. They are cerebral. They know what they want.

So, if anybody had sufficiently communicated, engaged enough to secure the buy-in of virtually all the catchments in Ekiti State, I believe that that should be an incentive for him to deliver much more. And I look forward to the next two years as years of consolation on every one thing that he had done over the last two years.

My wish and prayer are that since he represents the future that we want and he has adopted the TEAM (Together Everyone Achieve More) principle, I expect that more roads would be tarred, both in Ado Ekiti and outside, more sensitivity will be deployed into leadership as he has demonstrated over the past two years.

And, I have no doubt in my mind that we would be better for it. Ekiti today, we are back in reconning in terms of his achievements and Ekiti has been rated as one of the most peaceful states. The only thing a want to added is that we should continue to give this governor the support he needs so that he can deliver much more and give us the kind of state that not only our forefathers envisioned, but that we, the present generation and the future generation desire.