• Says bad federal roads shouldn’t be weaponised to blackmail FG
• Ekiti citizens demand quality representation from N’Assembly members
Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, yesterday, appealed to his supporters to maintain peace, conduct themselves exemplarily and avoid any acrimonious engagement with anyone, no matter the level of provocation, saying that his aspiration is not worth the precious blood of any Ekiti people.
The governor also appealed to all political leaders to rein in their supporters to give peace a priority, noting that the seed of their ambition should not be nurtured with the blood of followers.
Oyebanji, who stated this in a statewide broadcast in reaction to the recent incidents of political violence in some parts of the state ahead of the October 27, 2025 primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said Ekiti State must be careful as a people not to allow the Fifth Columnists to weaponise the challenges associated with some roads that need rehabilitation to blindfold them from seeing other roads that the Ekiti State Government and the Federal Government have rehabilitated.
The governor, who also spoke on the need for peace, said: “It was even scary that these attacks came after our initial appeal to stakeholders to maintain the peace and ensure a rancour-free electioneering. I once again appeal to my supporters to maintain the peace, conduct themselves exemplarily and avoid any acrimonious engagement with anyone, no matter the level of provocation.”
MEANWHILE, the citizens of Ekiti State, through the Justice Development and Peace Initiative (JDPI) of the Catholic Church, and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ekiti State Council, have demanded more quality and responsive representations from lawmakers representing the state at the National Assembly.
The organisations made this known yesterday, while delivering the series of the citizens’ watch report on the performance of the lawmaker representing Ekiti North Senatorial District, Cyril Fasuyi; the lawmaker representing Ikole/Oye Federal Constituency 1, Akintunde Rotimi and his counterpart in Ido-Osi/Moba/Ilejeme Federal Constituency II, Kolawole Akinlayo.
Director of JPDI, Rev’d Fr. Emmanuel Akingbade, who delivered the report, noted that the findings were as a result of the responses received from the random citizens interviewed across the constituencies. He said that the lawmakers are in office to advance the course of their constituents with quality legislative inputs and constituency engagements, adding that the lawmakers should be more accessible and available towards impacting their constituencies positively.
He, however, acknowledged the various interventions of the three federal lawmakers in the area of empowerment and projects, adding that there is a need for them to follow up with contractors and agencies on the projects in the budgets for effective implementation.
On his part, Chairman of the Ekiti State NUJ, Kayode Babatuyi, reiterated the constitutional role of the media to hold leaders and representatives of the people accountable in the interest of the people.
He added that the partnership between the NUJ and the JPDI was aimed at calling the attention of the lawmakers to the areas that need improvement and not to attack their personalities.
