With the result of the off-season gubernatorial election held in Ekiti State Saturday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the early hours of Sunday, Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will be succeeding the incumbent Governor Kayode Fayemi.
Fayemi has governed the state twice and will be rounding off his tenure of office on October 16, 2022.
INEC said Oyebanji won the election because he satisfied all the requirements for victory.
The Commission said that Oyebanji polled a total of 187,057 votes to defeat his two closest challengers – Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who poled 82,211 and Bisi Kolawole of the People’s Democratic Party who got 67,457 votes
The man Oyebanji
Abiodun Oyebanji is a politician and member of the All Progressive Congress (APC). He’s a lecturer and also once a Secretary to the Ekiti State Government.He was born on the 21st of December 1967 and he is from Ikogosi-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.
His academic journey started at Baptist primary school, Ikogosi-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. He attended Awo Community High School before he moved to CAC Grammar School, Efon-Alaaye, Ekiti state in 1979.
In the years 1983 to 1985, he attended the Federal school of Arts and Science, Ondo State and the District commercial Secondary school, Aramoko-Ekiti. In 1989, he bagged a degree in Political Science from the Ondo State University, now known as Ekiti State University. Also, in 1992, he got a Master’s in Political Science from the University of Ibadan (UI).
In the years 1993 to 1997, Abiodun Oyebanji worked as a lecturer at the university of Ado-Ekiti in the Department of Political science. After four years, he started working as a Manager for defunct Omega Bank PLC now known as Heritage Bank, till May 1999. He is also into Agricultural business and is currently the chairperson of Con Dios Farm LTD.
Read also: Ekiti election: Buhari hails winner, Oyebanji
His foray into politics
His political journey started on 8th June 1999 when he became the special assistant of parliament affairs to the Ekiti state governor. From, the 1st of August 2000 to September 2001, he was the special adviser to the Ekiti State Governor.
From September 2001 to May 29th 2003, he became the Chief of Staff to Ekiti state governor. Also, he became the chairperson for a governing board of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development from June 2009 to December 2010.
He was the commissioner of the Ministry of Integration and Intergovernmental Affairs of the Ekiti state governor from the 23rd of December 2010 to December 2011. December 2011 to 9th January 2013, he became the Commissioner for Transformation Strategy and Delivery of Head Office.
He served as the Commissioner for the Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Service delivery in Ekiti state between January 10, 2013, and October 16, 2014. Then he became the secretary of the Ekiti state government from 18th October 2018 to 2021. He became an Ekiti state governorship aspirant when he resigned as the SSG on the 7th of December 2021.
His family life
He is married to Mrs Oyebanji, a princess in Ado Ekiti and also an associate professor at the University of Ibadan.
