Cyril Mbah, Abuja
Ekiti State residents troooed out enmass on Thursday to welcome Vice President Kashim Shettima, who led the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council rally in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, urging Ekiti people to deliver 90 to 95 per cent of votes for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.
Shettima said Ekiti has become a reference state for elections in Nigeria, noting that the state led the nation in speaking with one voice that deserves respect and reflection, and he thanked the people for returning to acknowledge that voice.
He recalled that a few months ago, the people re-elected Governor Biodun Oyebanji under the APC with 85.7 per cent of the votes, describing the confidence reposed on the governor as an obligation the party must honour.
The Vice President said four years ago the APC came to seek votes, trust and mandate to turn the nation’s fortunes around, and has returned to thank Ekiti for standing with it through the difficult task of rescuing the economy, assuring that the sacrifices made are beginning to yield benefits.
He said President Tinubu has remained faithful to the commitments made in 2023, when Ekiti was the first state to declare its presidential election result, 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.
Shettima disclosed that three opponents of Governor Oyebanji in the last governorship election, from the PDP, SDP and APM, have now declared support for the APC presidential ticket and attended the APC rally, expressing hope that with 1,028,000 registered voters, the APC would garner 90 to 95 per cent of votes on January 16, 2027.
“The opposition can rake and rant, but there are no polling booths on Instagram or on Facebook,” he said, noting that the ADC candidate in the last Ekiti election got only 12,000 votes and has no presence in the state.
He used Adamawa State as an example, saying none of its five governors since 1999, including Bindow Jibrilla, Murtala Nyako, Ahmadu Fintiri, Boni Haruna and Bala Ngilari, is standing with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, but all are in the APC supporting Tinubu.
“If you cannot control your own state, if you are not relevant in your home base, how can you tell others to elect you?” Shettima asked, adding that politics is about grassroots contacts and performance, not emotions or sentiment.
On federal projects in Ekiti, he listed work on the Akure-Ikere Ekiti Road, construction of the Itawure-Aramoko-Ado Ekiti Road and other interventions from Aramoko and Ijero to Ifaki, Oye, Ikole and Omuo, as well as the establishment of the Federal University of Technology and Environmental Sciences.
He also said students of Ekiti State University and Bamidele Olumilua University have benefited from NELFUND loans, a new ICT Experience Centre is being commissioned at EKSU with TETFund support, and the President has approved a mining and geosciences institute for the state, stressing that poverty must not shut the door against any child.
Shettima said the administration is conscious of the work that remains, with some projects completed, others under construction and many more awaiting execution, and sought a fresh mandate to complete the work begun.
He thanked Governor Oyebanji, traditional institutions and Ekiti people, noting that every living governor of Ekiti, Ayo Fayose, Niyi Adebayo and Kayode Fayemi, is in alignment with and supporting President Tinubu.
Also speaking, Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, said Tinubu did not forget Ekiti and has delivered schools, universities, roads, education support, youth and women empowerment, and he demanded 800,000 votes out of over 900,000 PVCs collected, representing about 90 per cent.
Yari said the North is ready to deliver Tinubu from A to Z, citing falling food prices, including a 50kg bag of rice dropping from N110,000 to N60,000 and millet, sorghum and maize falling from about N110,000 to N37,000-N40,000, and he asked what the opposition would do differently.
The National Chairman of the APC, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, presented President Tinubu and all National Assembly and House of Assembly candidates in Ekiti, describing the President as a performer and a reformer who exempted small traders earning less than N100 million per annum from tax and gave poor students access to education through NELFUND with N20,000 monthly upkeep.
He urged Ekiti people to come out in their numbers on January 16 to vote for Tinubu, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele and other APC National Assembly candidates, and in February to return all APC House of Assembly members, so the party dominates the presidency, governorship, National Assembly and state assembly.
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