• Urges party faithful to woo non-partisan residents
• Kukah Centre tasks parties, candidates on peaceful polls

The Senate Leader and Chairman, Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC) 2026 Governorship Campaign Council, Opeyemi Bamidele, has said that there is nothing to fear as the excellent performance of Governor Biodun Oyebanji in the last three and a half years has made his re-election an easy task.

Bamidele said the programmes and policies of the governor had made a significant impact on the lives of the people, adding that they have resolved to repay him with an overwhelmingly huge volume of votes in appreciation.

This was just as a chieftain of the party, Abiodun Borisade, had said that 133 years after the Kiriji War, God has used Oyebanji to unite Ekiti voice and political direction, noting that the last time in the collective history that Ekiti people spoke with one voice was during the Kiriji War (1877–1893) when they unified to form the Ekiti Parapo.

The Senate Leader, who represents Ekiti Central in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, spoke in Ijero, Efon-Alaaye and Aramoko yesterday during Oyebanji’s campaign tour of Ijero, Efon and Ekiti West local councils respectively.

Bamidele, while appreciating the people of the state for their support for Oyebanji and the APC, canvassed for another opportunity to consolidate the good governance being enjoyed in the state.

In his remarks, Oyebanji expressed confidence in a big-margin victory in the June 20 governorship election.

However, the Kukah Centre, yesterday, charged political parties and their candidates in the state to work towards ensuring a peaceful and violence-free polls.

Project Manager of the Centre, Asabe Ndahi, said political parties owed it a responsibility to sensitise their members on issue-based and violence-free campaigns and activities to ensure a hitch-free exercise.

She spoke in Ado-Ekiti during a pre-election engagement, themed, “Socialisation of the Peace Accord Ahead of the 2026 Ekiti State Governorship Election,” attended by some political parties and their candidates ahead of the signing of the peace accord to ensure peace before, during and after the election, which has been slated for May 21 in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.