Ekiti 2022: Coalition Group endorses Oyebanji

A pan Yoruba coalition has adopted one of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants in Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji, for the election scheduled to hold June next year.

A statement by the Oodua Nationalist Coalition (ONAC) asked all its members across party lines to support the candidature of Oyebanji. The group said it would set up an independent campaign organisation with members from across party lines to ensure Oyebanji’s victory.

The statement by Sulaiman Aremu (deputy national coordinator), Olufemi Agbana (secretary-general) and Ayodeji Omotoyinbo (Ekiti State coordinator) said ONAC is a coalition of 22 pan Yoruba groups, including the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC), Agbekoya, the South West Christian Muslim Youth Dialogue Group (SWCMDG), the Oodua Development Congress (ODC), the South West Liberty Movement (SWLM), the Yoruba World Council (YWC), the South West Artisans Association (SWAA) among

The statement reads: “Supporting Oyebanji is a clarion call in defence of liberty, justice, human and material development of Ekiti State.”

ONAC said of all the candidates that have shown interest in the election, Oyebanji is the only one with a long history of relationship and understanding with pan Yoruba groups. It added that as a member of Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Oyebanji had shown commitment to the values and heritage of the people of the Southwest. They had entrusted him with a strategic position as governor of Ekiti State remains a long-standing wish of many conscious Yoruba people who share the Omoluabi ethos.

ONAC said Oyebanjo was an outstanding figure in the crusade for creating more states for the Southwest in the 1990s. It noted that Oyebanji’s history is well documented, unlike some of the governorship aspirants whose pasts are shrouded in mystery and suspicion relating to their source of wealth. Their relevance in the political history of Yoruba people, especially in the most challenging moments of military repression.

ONAC said Oyebanji is not a stranger to Omoluabi and mainstream Yoruba political ideology. He is known to many young and old Pan Yoruba group leaders as “honest, humble and down to earth.”

Suzan O./Nation