Haa! Ekiti, ẹ jẹ́ ká ṣí aṣọ lórí irọ́
Let us expose Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji’s offence.
Let us reveal his only failure.
For there is no perfect human being.
Kò sí bí a ṣe lè rìn, kí orí má jì.
Ẹ jẹ́ ká sọ òtítọ́, ká tún gbọ́ òtítọ́.
In this season when politics is boiling, when June 20 is drawing near, when every street has turned into a campaign corridor, when voices are loud and emotions are even louder, it is only fair that we pause, breathe, and speak plainly.
Let us not pretend.
Let us not decorate the truth.
Let us not hide behind political cosmetics.
Yes, Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji has done well.
Yes, very well.
But if truth must be told, and truth must always be told, he has also committed one grievous offence.
Not in the way critics imagine.
Not in the way opposition choruses sing it.
Not in the manner some hurried commentators would want the public to believe.
No.
His failure is simple:
Governor Oyebanji refused to make Ado Ekiti the only beneficiary of development.
Haa! What an offence!
What a political crime!
What a serious miscalculation!
When we were voting for him, some of us expected him to understand that Ado Ekiti is the capital and, therefore, everything must begin and end there. Not because Ado gave him the highest number of votes alone, but because Ado is Ado. Ado is the state capital. Ado is the seat of power. Ado is the administrative heartbeat. Ado is the parlour of Ekiti’s “16 self-contained apartments.”
And everybody knows that the parlour matters.
A visitor first sees the parlour before entering the rooms. The sitting room creates the first impression. And as we often say, first impression lasts longer. Therefore, no serious Governor can afford to abandon Ado Ekiti.
To be fair, Governor Oyebanji did not abandon Ado.
He has given Ado Ekiti attention.
He has touched the capital.
He has elevated the face of the centre.
He understands that ilé ni a ti ń kọ́ ẹ̀ṣọ́ r’òde — charity begins at home.
But that is exactly where his “failure” started.
We expected him to stop there.
We expected him to spend all the resources of Ekiti State on Ado Ewi alone.
We expected him to behave as if other towns and villages were mere footnotes in the book of Ekiti development.
But no.
He disappointed us.
He remembered the inner rooms.
He refused to accept that Ado must shine while the rest of Ekiti sits in darkness. He refused to turn the capital into a decorated island surrounded by neglected communities. He refused to reduce governance to urban glamour and political window-dressing.
Honestly, this is where we are not happy with him.
Do not mind that Yoruba proverb that says, “Ẹni kan kì í jẹ kí ilé fẹ́.”
For political mischief, let us pretend the proverb is nonsense.
Let us pretend it does not matter if Ado alone eats everything.
Let us pretend it makes sense if all the roads, all the lights, all the hospitals, all the tourism attention, all the infrastructure, all the opportunities and all the government presence are locked inside Ado Ekiti alone.
But Oyebanji refused.
That is his “failure.”
He refused to stop at the parlour.
He entered the inner rooms.
He remembered the villages.
He touched the towns.
He opened corridors.
He reconnected communities.
He carried development into places where promises had slept for too long.
Roads that once existed only in campaign grammar are now becoming realities.
Iworoko- Ifaki
Ipere to Ido.
Ijero to Oke Oro.
Itapa- Ijelu
Ita Wure to Okemesi.
Ara to Ikole to Isinbode.
Ikere to Igbara Odo.
Ilawe to Ikogosi.
These are not just roads.
They are economic veins.
They are social bridges.
They are instruments of dignity.
They are routes through which farmers, traders, students, workers, tourists and ordinary people breathe easier.
In Imesi Ekiti, darkness that lingered for years has been pushed back by light — literal, visible light — restoring safety, movement, commerce and dignity.
Across towns and villages, Comprehensive Health Centres are rising, not only in the urban clusters, but in communities where healthcare once meant distance, delay and anxiety.
This is not accident.
This is not showmanship.
This is not cosmetic governance.
This is deliberate leadership.
And then comes tourism, the silent revolution that has completely scattered the lazy argument of “Ado-centric” development.
Because if this government were truly Ado-focused alone, would Oke Sagbonke in Efon Alaaye be elevated into a tourism destination so meaningful that the people of Efon themselves wrote to thank the Governor?
Would Oke Ewo War Memorial Site in Ilupeju receive attention and recognition?
Would Opeoloriyeye in Ilogbo Ekiti — that mysterious palm with forty-two heads — be brought into the tourism conversation?
Would Ugele Rock Shelter Settlement in Ikere Ekiti be unveiled and positioned as a heritage site of remarkable interest?
Would the sacred source of Osun in Igede Ekiti receive attention?
None of these is in Ado.
None of these is in the so-called parlour.
None of these belongs to the capital city.
Yet they are alive.
They are visible.
They are gaining value.
They are being woven into the larger Ekiti story.
So again, we must ask:
Is this failure, or is this fairness?
Is this offence, or is this equity?
Is this political miscalculation, or is this balanced governance?
Because what some people call failure is, in truth, a philosophy: that development must not be trapped in the capital; that governance must not be urban-biased; that Ekiti must grow as one body, not as a divided house.
Igi kan kì í dá igbó ṣe.
Even beyond roads and tourism, the same pattern is visible.
Debt is not being used for decoration but for infrastructure that people can see and touch.
Youth empowerment is moving from rhetoric to structure.
Retirees are being paid in a transparent and phased manner.
Security is receiving deliberate coordination.
Local governments are being encouraged to become more accountable.
The state is being governed with balance, not noise.
This is not a government obsessed with mere appearance.
This is a government committed to spread.
This is not development by favouritism.
This is development by fairness.
So when discordant voices rise, when accusations are thrown into the air, when some people shout “Ado-centric” today and complain tomorrow that development is going outside Ado, one can only pause and smile.
Because the real “lfailure of Governor Oyebanji is this:
He gave Ado Ekiti what it deserves, but he also gave the inner rooms what they had long deserved.
He respected the parlour, but he did not abandon the bedrooms.
He beautified the centre, but he remembered the edges.
He strengthened the capital, but he refused to forget the communities that make Ekiti whole.
And in doing so, he refused to play politics with development.
As June 20 approaches, as emotions rise and decisions draw near, Ekiti must not be carried away by noise. Let us ask the only question that matters:
Kí ni Oyebanji ṣe gan-an?
And when we answer honestly, we will see that what is being called failure is, in fact, equity in action.
Because as the elders say:
Bí iṣẹ́ bá dá, a kì í bẹ̀rù ìdájọ́.
Governor Oyebanji ṣe bẹ́ẹ̀ bẹ́ẹ̀…
t’ẹ̀gàn ló kù.
Therefore, if this is his failure, let us punish him properly.
Let us hit him hard with our votes.
Let us discipline him massively at the ballot.
Let us reward this offence of balanced development with overwhelming support.
June 20, 2026 — let us hit him with our votes.
Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji has failed only in one area: he refused to abandon the rest of Ekiti.
And for that beautiful failure, Ekiti should stand with him again.
— Wale Ojo-Lanre, Esq.