Engr. Kayode Ojo: The Man Who Wants to Govern Ekiti State in 2022 by Ayokunle Oloye

Editor's note: Journalist and public affairs commentator, Ayokunle Oloye writes on the aspiration of Engr. Kayode Ojo, a construction magnate, prominent APC chieftain, and frontline governorship aspirant of the ruling party in Ekiti ahead of the 2022 guber race in the southwest state.

At the 2018 All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship primaries in which he first tested his mettle for the position, Engr. Kayode Ojo came forth as the favourite of the neutrals. Many saw him as representing a fresh hope for an Ekiti that had been beset by years of underachievement. He was regarded by many as the possible alternative should Ekiti favour a radical departure from the old way of politics that has stymied the state’s potential to lift itself out of its present state.

Engineer Kayode Olubunmi Ojo is a prominent political figure and construction magnate who hails from the state. He is the son of High Chief (Dr) Jacob A. Ojo and hails from Ikoro Ekiti in the Ijero Local Government Area of the state.

Born on August 1, 1970, Engr Kayode Ojo is a 1991 graduate of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from the Federal University of Technology Akure. He is a professional member of the Nigeria Institute of Engineers as well as the Nigeria Association of Corrosion Engineers. He is also certified member of the Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN)

Engineer Ojo is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of SALTA Infrastructure and Construction Company which he grew from scratch within a short period of five years to a multi-billion infrastructure conglomerate with acquisitions not only in Nigeria but also in the United States of America, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Arab Emirates.

He is also into the oil and gas industry with a partnership in Atlas International Engineering Services where he is Executive Director, Business and Technical Development. His extensive involvement in this sector of includes shareholding in such pioneering indigenous petroleum exploring companies as SEPLAT Petroleum, Platform Petroleum, and Midwestern Oil and Gas Limited.

For all his successful business activities, however, Engineer Ojo has one overriding passion; to see a financially independent Ekiti state where human capital development is the key to developing a prosperous and egalitarian society in Ekiti.

He has demonstrated this by employing numerous Ekiti sons and daughters in his enterprises and companies and helping them to grow their potentials in areas of their specialties.

He has also identified and demonstrated his love and passion for his state by making generous contributions to worthy causes in Ekiti and strives to be always present at occasions that the state celebrates.

It was Engr Kayode Ojo’s passionate love for Ekiti state that led him to join politics in order to further contribute his quota in developing the state. He is not happy that for a state so blessed it is still groping about to fulfill its immense potentials. He sees in Ekiti a state that can be the Singapore of Nigeria developing high-quality manpower and applying it to add value in many areas of endeavor both within the state and Nigeria at large.

That is why he expresses mixed feelings that despite the famed educational exploits of the indigenes of the state, this has not been translated into a commensurate level of visible development on ground. He is thus committed to bridging this critical gap by ensuring an egalitarian Ekiti state.

Even with his relative novelty into Ekiti politics Engr. Ojo was able to come a close third to veteran political gladiators like Dr. Kayode Fayemi the incumbent governor of the state and Engr. Segun Oni respectively. With such an impressive showing, many in Ekiti believe Engr. Ojo is certainly the candidate for the near future and when the time comes it will not be surprising if he clinches the APC governorship ticket.

As the tenure of the incumbent governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi winds up in 2022, and new party primaries and subsequent elections are to be held, Engr. Ojo has renewed his quest for the APC governorship ticket in Ekiti state. This is in keeping with his abiding passion to contribute his quota to the development and of the state.

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