Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, said on Tuesday that the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in the state were going into the 2027 presidential election as a united family with a resolve to re-elect President Bola Tinubu.

Oyebanji, who said no past Nigerian President, dead or living, had positively impacted the state like Tinubu had done since 2023, urged Ekiti voters to deliver a minimum of 900,000 votes for the President in January.

The governor spoke in Ado Ekiti while addressing PDP members under the aegis of the Oluyede Progressive Alliance for Renewed Hope Alliance, led by the Ekiti PDP candidate in the June 20 governorship election, Dr Oluwole Oluyede, at an OPARHA mobilisation rally to round off a programme tagged “20,000 Steps for Tinubu”.

Both Oyebanji and Oluyede, of the APC and PDP respectively, pledged at the occasion to jointly deliver a minimum of 90 per cent of the votes in Ekiti during the presidential election for Tinubu.

Oluyede, a PDP chieftain, has been mobilising support for Tinubu’s re-election across the 16 local government areas of Ekiti State through OPARHA.

The governor, while addressing the PDP members, said, “What is happening today speaks to the aspiration of the founding fathers of Ekiti. When they were struggling for state creation, our founding fathers desired an Ekiti where all of us would be one.

“Any leader that loves his people will not mind to sacrifice; he will not mind to go through pains, and that is what is happening today. I am grateful to Dr Oluyede for putting aside political differences and rallying others to support Tinubu to ensure Tinubu’s re-election with massive votes in 2027.

“Asiwaju’s visit is existential for us as a state. In our 30 years of existence as a state, there has been no President living or dead that has been so good to Ekiti people as President Tinubu.”

Oyebanji urged Ekiti people to turn out en masse to vote for Tinubu in January, saying, “Let us vote for Asiwaju to say thank you in Ekiti. I can assure you that Asiwaju is not an ingrate; once we do our own part, I can assure you he will do his own part.

“Dr Oluyede had discussed with the President; he had made promises, and people are looking at us. We are going to the election as one party, as one united family. There is nothing that should stop us from bringing out our best for the interest of our people, for the development of our state and the development of ourselves,” the governor said.

The OPARHA Convener, Oluyede, assured that his supporters in the PDP in the state would embark on door-to-door mobilisation across the 16 local government areas for votes for Tinubu in the 2027 election.

Oluyede said, “I want to thank the members of the PDP in Ekiti State who have agreed with me that we are going to support Tinubu and we are going to stand by him. I have spoken with President Tinubu and he has promised that he would stand by you – this means the development of Ekiti is reassured. I have promised to support the development of the state with all my might.

“We are going to support President Tinubu 100 per cent. We will deliver 90 per cent (over 900,000) of the votes in Ekiti State for Tinubu. The PDP members here are committed to the re-election of President Tinubu. They defied the rain. We are taking 20,000 steps.

“All these people are already committed. They will go door to door, in all the 16 local governments, to sensitise and mobilise voters for Tinubu. And on the day of the election, they are going to stand with the President, and they are going to deliver. It is President Tinubu who can deliver what we want in Ekiti. We have assured President Tinubu that we are going to deliver for him,” Oluyede said, assuring of continuity of peace, understanding and development in Ekiti State.