Mr Biodun Oyebanji, Ekiti State Governor, said on Tuesday that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu spoke with him on the phone every day until the abducted schoolchildren were freed.
The Governor made this statement while visiting a delegation from the Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, who paid him a condolence visit at his office in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday.
The Afenifere delegation, led by the group’s Ondo State Chairman, Chief Korede Duyile, was dispatched by the National Leader of Afenifere, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, to express condolences to the Government and people of Ekiti State following the murder of two traditional rulers and the kidnapping of some private school students and teachers last week. The students and their teachers have now been liberated from the captors.
Governor Oyebanji, who characterized the horrible murders of the two traditional rulers as sacrilegious and “an affront to the Ekiti people and the Yoruba race,” vowed that the offenders will face punishment.
He said he was grateful to President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for being on top of the situation, which he said inspired everyone concerned to do their best in rescuing the children.
According to the Governor “It will be a mark of ingratitude on my part, if I don’t say this here today, Mr President really tried, from the minute it happened till the last day the children were released, the President was talking to me on a daily basis, giving appropriate directives on the way out. And I want Afenifere to thank him”.
“because, the question is if this happened to two Obas, then what is the fate of the subjects. So, they are putting in place structures to defend their people.”
“And I also plead with Afenifere that they should be united, so that they can work together, it is only in unison that this organiSation can achieve its vision as espoused by the founding fathers. So, we need a united front, collectively, we can combat this menace that is steering us in the face.
“I am grateful to Baba Fasoranti for sending this delegation of eminent leaders to commiserate with us. This speaks to the unity of our people. Afenifere had seen a situation like this long ago, and that is why you have been clamouring for restructuring. Those opposed to the call then, have now joined Afenifere in championing restructuring, state or multi-level policing, among others. We need Afenifere to keep speaking objectively.”
