Abiodun Oyebanji has been sworn in as the governor of Ekiti State
He took his oath of office at the state’s government house on Sunday at about 12:53 pm.
Oyebanji, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared winner of the Ekiti governorship election with 187,057 votes, defeating his two closest challengers, Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who polled 82,211 votes, and Bisi Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who got 67,457 votes.
The former Secretary to the State Government, SSG, was sworn in by the State Chief Judge, Justice Oyewole Adeyeye.
Dignitaries present include the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu; Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu and his Plateau State counterpart, Simon Lalong.
Others include Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa) and Dapo Abiodun (Ogun).
The new governor has at various points served in public service through appointments or as a member of committees.
In 1994, Oyebanji was appointed the Secretary of the committee set up for the creation of Ekiti State, headed by Baba Deji Falegan.
He was also the Secretary of the Ekiti State Development Fund at a time.
When Nigeria reverted to democracy in 1999, at 32 years old, he was named as one of the top advisers to Otunba Niyi Adebayo, the state’s first democratically elected governor.
Oyebanji ascended through the ranks to become the state governor’s Chief of Staff in 2003.
In 2009, he was appointed as the chairman of the governing board, Citizenship and Leadership Training centre under the federal ministry of youth and sports development (June 2009 – December 2010).
In 2010, Oyebanji was appointed the commissioner for integration and inter-governmental affairs and later Ekiti’s office of transformation strategy and delivery (OTSD), a year later by the administration of Kayode Fayemi.
In 2018, Oyebanji was appointed secretary to the state government (SSG) by Kayode Fayemi, after being reelected for a second term as Governor of Ekiti State.
