Sola POPOOLA
Ekiti State governor, Mr Mr Biodun Oyebanji has revealed the secret of his unprecedented cordial relationships with his predecessors in office saying he was actually ‘a clone” of former governors ,Niyi Adebayo,Kayode Fayemi and Ayo Fayose.
Reviewing his achievements in the last 365days in office Oyebanji said he was blessed with massive supports from his predecessors.
The governor who received Second Term Endorsement from the three former governors at the Anniversary Thanksgiving Service said ” I am actually blessed by predecessors that dont disturb me, even those ones that belong to the opposition, I have found favour in their eyes, they give me advice unconditionally so, I stand on the shoulders of giants and I know that it is only the grace of God who has made this to happen.
” I see myself as the clone of both himself, Governor Niyi Adebayo and Governor Ayo Fayose. And since Oga (Fayemi) left, I am the one that is always disturbing him, because there are some doors I will ask him to go and open for me and he does that without any problem. I consult with him regularly, he has not foisted anything on me, he doesnt disturb me for anything, I am the one disturbing his peace. I will call him that when will he come back to Ekiti, he will tell him I should allow him to rest. There was a time he had to go to London to do something for me. He got there and he called me and I spoke with the person. Today I have called him to do some things for me and he said he will do it. There is no basis for friction.
“My relationship with all of them has been extremely cordial and I intend to maintain that. ” he said
Making specific reference to Fayemi ,the governor said ” Governor Fayemi remains the leader, remains my Boss, remains my mentor and because I worked with him for seven years, taking decisions, to a large extent, I can have a guess of what he would do on any matter. One day we were having a discussion, I was telling him I want to do this, I want to do that, I was mentioning names and he told me that look, if he was the one taking the decision, he would pick those people too.
” This is because I sat at all the meetings as SSG with him. I was a member of the strategy team, I was a member of his think tank, so, he has taken me through all these things so, on any decision, I have an idea of what Oga will do.
“But where I have problem, I can pick my phone and call him that what should I do with respect to this. So, I am full of gratitude to him for his support and I can count on his stronger support going forward.
“Actually, there is no secret. Remember, I worked with Governor Fayemi for seven years. In his first term in office, I was the Commissioner for Integration, I later headed OTSD, and later served as Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, so, I worked with him for four years. When he came back, in 2018, I was the SSG for three years. So, seven years working with him and God has used him to support me to be here.