Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, has appealed to Nigerians to support President Bola Tinubu in his avowed determination for positive turnaround in the fortunes of Nigeria and ensure that its people enjoy better standard of living.
Oyebanji also enjoined Nigerians to stop making negative comments and confessions about the country, which he said is on the right path to economic recovery and prosperity.
President Tinubu, according to him, means well for Nigerians with his reforms which he said are beginning to yield expected dividends.
The Governor who made the remarks on Thursday at the 2025 Inter-faith Thanksgiving Service held at the main theatre of Obafemi Awolowo Civic and Convention Centre, Ado Ekiti , said Nigerians should be grateful to God for giving them a courageous leader in person of President Tinubu, who, he said , is not afraid of taking decisions which are in the overall interest of the masses.
Oyebanji also used the opportunity of the interfaith service to restate his commitment to work harder for the development and prosperity of Ekiti State.
Acknowledging the commendation of clerics at the inter-faith thanksgiving service for the way he has been handling the affairs of the state, Oyebanji said he has no excuse not to live up to expectations of the people noting that God had prepared him well for the top job with the experience he had garnered in governance over the years.
Oyebanji hailed the people of the state for investing their goodwill in the All Progressives Congress (APC) through their votes which gave him the privilege to become their chief servant who leads other dedicated men and women to make sacrifices for the growth and development of the Land of Honour.
“As the chief servant of the people, I make a promise again before God and before all of you that are here today tht I will serve you with every fibre, every energy. I will serve you in truth and I will serve you with fear of God and 2025 will be our year of accelerated growth and development for us as a state and individually,” he said.
The Governor attributed the recent increase in allocation to the state which has reflected increased salary for civil servants, other welfare packages for citizens who are not on government payroll as well as ongoing and completed projects to the magnanimity of Tinubu who approved increment in allocation to states after the fuel subsidy removal.
Oyebanji expressed gratitude to Tinubu “for showing immense grace to him and to Ekiti people” saying, “after God, whatever we might have achieved is through the President because when you find favour in the presence of the President, it translates to good things for our people.”
The Ekiti helmsman noted that Tinubu’s policy shift is now being appreciated in some quarters that had earlier misunderstood him citing the example of the decision of the management of THISDAY Newspaper to give the President the Man of the Year award in recognition of his bold and courageous decisions in the overriding public interest.
Oyebanji said: “Please, let us continue to support our President because it is in our own interest to support him. We must thank God that God made him to be President for a time like this. One of my happiest moments was yesterday (Wednesday) when I woke up and I saw THISDAY Newspaper and they said Mr President is their Man of the Year and you know that THISDAY and ARISE TV are highly critical of the President.
“They said that Mr President is courageous, that he is a strong-willed person. So, if that is coming from opposition elements, that means we owe it a duty to support the President. The President is human, if we continue to support him, I know that he will do more and we are already seeing positive developments arising from what he is doing.
“We are able to do what we are doing in Ekiti State because we had an increase in allocations at all levels. These allocations wouldn’t have been possible if the President had not removed fuel subsidy. These are painful decisions but there is no country in the world that eats its yam sets and woukd not pay for it. What President Tinubu is telling us is that we should not eat our yam sets, that we should invest them.”
Speaking further, Oyebanji said : “As we enter 2025, our confessions about Nigeria should be positive. Most of us make negative comments about our nation and there is power in our tongues. Let us speak positively to our own Jerusalem because that is what Nigeria is to us so that all of us will find peace.”
He urged well endowed Ekiti sons and fathers at home and in the Diaspora to emulate the Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) in mobilizing support for the state government, leveraging their influence, resources and goodwill.
He said the two frontline citizens have been consistent in their support for the state, adding that the state would appreciate more of such support from other well endowed Ekiti.
The service featured songs of praise, readings from the Bible and the Qur’an as well as sermons and prayers by Muslim and Christian clerics.
In attendance were the Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Monisade Afuye; Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Adeoye Aribasoye; Head of Service, Dr Folakemi Olomojobi; acting Chief Judge, Justice Lekan Ogunmoye; members of the House of Assembly, State Executive Council, other political office holders, traditional rulers, religious leaders, labour leaders and civil servants.