Pan Afric Reporters
Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji (BAO) of Ekiti State has once again turned governance into a stage play, this time with a wasteful jamboree to the APC National Secretariat in Abuja under the guise of submitting nomination forms. What should have been a simple administrative exercise was converted into a state-sponsored carnival, with convoys, aides, and rented praise-singers, all paid for with taxpayers’ money. I guessed.
This kind of reckless political theatre exposes the tragic pattern of governance in Ekiti State: form without substance, propaganda without progress, and politics without accountability. At a time when workers are groaning under unpaid entitlements, pensioners languish in poverty, and infrastructural decay stares citizens in the face, BAO chose to splurge scarce public funds on a vanity project designed solely to massage ego and impress party overlords in Abuja.
Ekiti is known for brains, not brigades of sycophants. It is a state of thinkers and doers, not a state that should be dragged into political carnivals to flatter one man’s ego.
A Governor or a Party Errand Boy?
Submitting nomination papers is a private political activity, a personal journey that should never involve the deployment of state resources. Yet, BAO shamelessly blurred the lines between governance and party politics, dragging along state functionaries, vehicles, and security details, as though the destiny of Ekiti State itself was on the ballot here in Abuja. This is nothing but abuse of office, a mockery of the sensitivity of the Ekiti people and democratic ethics.
The irony is damning: while Ekiti youths migrate daily in search of menial survival, while roads collapse and hospitals remain under-equipped, the governor displayed brazen arrogance, turning a personal party ritual into a state affair. The question every Ekiti citizen must ask is simple: Who paid the bills for this showmanship?
The Poverty of Priorities
BAO’s political circus at the APC Secretariat mirrors a deeper crisis of leadership, a governor more concerned about currying favor from Abuja godfathers than confronting the grinding realities of his people. This brand of politics is why Ekiti has remained underdeveloped despite producing some of the nation’s brightest minds. Instead of crafting policies to grow the state’s internally generated revenue, revive agriculture, or tackle unemployment, the governor is perfecting the art of waste and spectacle.
Democracy or Feudal Politics?
By staging this charade, BAO reinforces the feudal politics where the welfare of the masses is secondary to the ambitions of the ruling elite. It tells Ekiti people that their governor’s loyalty lies not with them, the electorates but with party barons in Abuja who will determine his political future. This is the very betrayal that keeps Nigeria generally and Ekiti State in particular trapped in cycles of poverty and underdevelopment.
The Verdict
Governor Oyebanji’s Abuja outing was not just unnecessary; it was a symbol of waste, insensitivity, and the death of responsible governance. It demonstrated how the state’s resources can be frivolously diverted to serve personal and partisan interests. Ekiti people deserve better than a governor who mistakes propaganda for governance and who is quick to spend on political adventures but slow to invest in public welfare.
Until leaders like BAO are held accountable, democracy in Nigeria will continue to be reduced to an expensive charade, a circus where the people pay the bills but never get a seat in the arena.
Every Ekiti citizen should ask: Who paid for this show? Who fueled the convoys? Who paid the aides’ allowances? Who bankrolled the rented crowd? If the answer is “the people,” then BAO must be called out for abuse of office. Silence in the face of waste only guarantees more waste.
