Oyebanji: Accolades for a tested and trusted performer, by Ọmọọba Olusesan Alabi
If ever there is a governor who had garnered several awards and recognitions in a short time, it would be Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji (BAO) of Ekiti State. When he emerged as All Progressives Congress’ Governorship Candidate early 2022, some were doubtful because he was not a Lagos/Ibadan/diaspora politician. I remember having to convince a Lagos-based friend and business tycoon that his being home-bred would be an advantage rather than an albatross as some feared.
In the last thirty months or so, BAO has utterly surprised doubters. By whatever indices you may want to measure him, the outcome would be “BAO has performed creditably well”.
Within the first twenty-four months, recognitions started coming in, most of them from outside the state, confirming what we already knew and what we are enjoying in Ekiti State. These were in form of awards, accolades and laurels here and there.
In May 2024, the Daily Independent Mewspaper honoured the Governor with the award of Governor of the Year (Good governance and grassroots development) in recognition of his exemplary leadership and infrastructure development which cut across the nooks and crannies of the state.
In September 2024, BAO won “The Most Outstanding Governor of the Year in Inclusive Leadership and Grassroots Development” given by MARKETING EDGE MAGAZINE, Nigeria’s leading marketing journal. According to the EDGE, BAO was honoured for his “developmental approach to governance, inclusive leadership, and uplifting the standard of living in the state” and also for “his giant strides in ifrastructure; good governance; and promoting peace in the state”.
In another but similar instance, Governor BAO was nominated the New Telegraph Newspaper’s Governor of the Year in 2024. In its nomination letter, The Telegraph’s management noted that BAO emerged “after a thorough assessment of his visionary leadership and achievements in critical sectors of the state”.
The Newspaper cited Governor Oyebanji’s “huge investment in road and power infrastructure across many communities as well as his people-oriented programs, projects and policies that have brought a remarkable impact in the standard of living of the people of the state and positioned the state as a reference point for good governance”.
Only three months into this year, another national media giant is beaming its searchlight on the performing Governor of Ekiti State. The Vanguard Group has slated BAO for its prestigious “BEST GOVERNOR’S AWARD”. This will be presented in the coming month. According to the newspaper’s management, this award “is in recognition of Governor Oyebanji’s remarkable implementation of his Six Pillars of his administration’s development agenda, particularly in the areas of Human Capital Development, Infrastructure and Industrialisation as well as in Arts, Culture and Tourism”. While presenting the nomination letter, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of The Vanguard, Mr. Adekunle Adekoya said that BAO “earned the best Governor Award on good governance due to the significant development his government had undertaken across various sectors in the state”. He explained that the nomination came after reviewing the public space to identify leaders of government that are impacting on the people that elected them.
Governor BAO’s Awards are not limited to the Print Media alone. He was also nominated for and indeed won the prestigious “Silverbird 2024 Man of the Year Award”. This was after he garnered the highest number of votes to beat other nominees. Silverbird cited Oyebanji’s “impressive achievement in areas such as infrastructure and tourism development, social interventions for the less priviledged; inclusive governance, agriculture and rural development” as the basis for his selection.
