Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, and his predecessor, Kayode Fayemi, have urged the people of the state to vote massively for the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, and all the state and National Assembly candidates of the party in the 2023 general election.

Oyebanji and Fayemi made the call during a APC leaders and stakeholders annual Christmas get-together hosted by the former governor at his Isan-Ekiti country home on Monday.

Fayemi, a former presidential aspirant and currently Special Adviser on Foreign Affairs to the APC Presidential Candidate, said Ekiti State and other parts of the country have a lot to gain if the ruling party retains the presidency with Tinubu as president.

The former minister said the state would witness more development if the party could win all the state and National Assembly seats, stressing that this could only be made possible by massive mobilisation of support for the party’s candidates.

Fayemi, who described Tinubu as a highly resourceful political leader and strategist, said the former Lagos State Governor possesses the experience, exposure, and capacity to lead the country successfully.

The immediate past governor of Ekiti State also thanked the people of the state for choosing “a competent person”, Oyebanji as their governor, adding that the people have started seeing the benefits of electing someone with competence and character into office.

“I want to thank you again for electing BAO as your governor. He has the capacity, compassion, he is calm and he is a man of integrity. He also has what I don’t particularly have – he connects easily.

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“If you recall an interview I gave about two years ago. I said I want a governor who will do everything that I can do, but also has that bits of connecting with our people a lot better than I managed to do. So there is no reason why Ekiti people should be in any doubt that he is going to do much better than what I have done in office,” Fayemi stated.

Speaking on the forthcoming general election, Fayemi said: “The presidency is number one, we have a candidate whom we believe will do well for the country, if he gets elected. I’m sure you all want Asiwaju as our next president.

“So, we have to do everything under the leadership of our governor to win that particular election. Then we need continuity in our House of Assembly; the governor cannot work alone and our determination is to ensure that 26 of the 26 members that will work with Governor Oyebanji are from our own party.”

Also speaking, Governor Oyebanji stated that the APC parades the best candidates in all the elective positions, adding that Tinubu’s election as the next president of the country was non-negotiable.

He assured the people of the state of more dividends of democracy with “Tinubu as the next president, with APC having the majority of members of the National Assembly, and APC retaining all 26 seats in the Ekiti Assembly.

“We are prepared as a party and we have the best candidates and we are just waiting for the coronation come February. We are optimistic that Nigerians will vote for us massively. We shall also mobilise massively for our candidates,” Oyebanji said.

Some APC leaders, who spoke at the annual get-together, thanked Fayemi for sustaining the hosting of the annual gathering which was attended by political leaders from all the 177 wards in the state.

The Star