The pavilion is empty now. The banners are down. The drummers, cymbalists, _kakakists_, percussionists — even the singers and dancers — have all gone home. But the talking has just started.
Because the day after the flag off is when faultfinders do their real work. Not on the field, but on the phone. Not with facts, but with _faction_ — facts laced with fiction.
So, what are the naysayers saying this morning?
They say it was an artificial crowd. That the pavilion was filled with SAs, board members, and party excos. That buses were sent to the 16 LGAs with marching orders. That uniform _aso-ebi_ was shared like campaign rice.
They say many were forced to attend. They whisper that civil servants signed registers at the gate. That market women were told, “No BAO rally, no opening of Oja-Oba.” That students were promised extra marks to show up.
They argue that crowd doesn’t equal votes. They remind us of 2014: “APC filled the stadium for Fayemi too. We know how that ended.” They tease, conveniently forgetting how federal power was weaponized then. They say rally attendance is theatre. The ballot box is the truth. And rented feet do not carry PVCs.
It is a familiar song. Every crowd that cheers them, the opposition, is “organic.” Every crowd that cheers us, the party in government, is “purchased.” Just imagine! In Ekiti, we’ve been hearing that same refrain since 1999.
But here is the correct position:
First, love filled that pavilion, not fear, not intimidation. Go back and watch the clips. Not the wide shots from the drone, but the phone videos from the stands. Look at their eyes. People do not dance that way under duress. Market women left their stalls before the _Iyaloja_ sent town criers — if she ever did. Okada riders parked on their own, bought fuel with their own money, and rode to the pavilion. Teachers came with exercise books under their arms after school closed, and chose the pavilion over their homes.
You cannot force a pensioner who trekked 3km or more from home to shout “BAO for second term!” with that kind of breath. Hunger does not sing. Paid arrears do.
Second, the crowd has PVCs, and they have personal memory. The faultfinders are right about one thing: crowd does not translate to votes. But they forget the second half — a grateful crowd translates to willing votes.
Ask the NUT chairman why 12,000 teachers wore BAO face caps. He will tell you it was voluntary. After all, BAO cleared the 2018 leave bonus. Ask the 60 communities that snapped selfies under streetlights. They will tell you BEDC left them in darkness in 2004, but BAO brought them back to light in 2025. Ask the 5,000 youths who shared N1.4bn in Agric profit. They will tell you it is not empowerment. It is employment.
People vote their stomach, yes. But they also vote their scars. And BAO has dressed many scars in the last three years. The ballot is secret, but conscience is not. On June 20, conscience will speak.
Third, look at those who came: this is the politics of presence. Rented crowds do not attract former enemies. Forced crowds do not keep governors past 3pm. Yet the roll call at the flag off read like Ekiti’s Council of State:
– Otunba Niyi Adebayo, first civilian governor.
– Dr. Kayode Fayemi, immediate past governor.
– Engr. Segun Oni, former governor and 2022 opponent.
– Ayo Fayose, former governor.
– All 3 Senators, all 6 Reps, all 26 House members.
– All 38 LG/LCDA Chairmen. All 16 traditional councils represented.
– All party excos — State, LG, Ward, and even Unit levels.
– Sitting governors from several APC governed States.
– Chairman of the Progressives Governor’s Forum.
– Members of the National Working Council from Abuja, led by the national chairman of the party.
– Members of the opposition parties.
– And many more…
When Segun Oni mounted the podium, it was not about inducement. Did Fayemi speak the way he did because he wanted recognition? What of Adebayo? What induced him to attend and speak for BAO? Perhaps Fayose wanted to be a commissioner under BAO to speak so vehemently? When PDP elders sat under the canopy, it was not about _aso-ebi_. It was about BAO 2.0. It was about a man they fought in 2022, who refused to fight them back in 2024. They’ve chosen not to fight him in 2026 — else they would be fighting the entire Ekiti.
What you saw was not a rented crowd. It was a political realignment. And realignments win elections.
The test is not the attendance. The test is the aftermath. Rented crowds disperse and abuse you on Twitter by nightfall. Forced crowds leak your videos and call you names.
Check the timeline: it’s now 24 hours after. No protest of “we weren’t paid.” No #BAOFailedUs trending. Instead, artisans are posting that they came on their own. Students are posting, “No lecture, no problem — BAO was our lecture.” Even critics are posting, “The crowd was huge, but…”
When your opponent starts his sentence with “the crowd was huge,” you have already won the first half.
So to the faultfinders, we say: Keep counting the buses. We will keep counting the boreholes.
Keep checking registers. We will keep checking hospital rosters where doctors now stay.
Keep saying “it won’t translate to votes.” We will keep translating arrears to alerts, darkness to light, and our IGR from 36th to 1st.
On June 20, the pavilion will move from the stadium to the polling unit. The same faces you saw will cast their votes genuinely, for the same reasons, with the same love.
No one will force them. No one will ever need to. Because a man who paid you when he didn’t have to, who came when others didn’t, who remembered you when others forgot you, does not need to bribe you for your vote. He has earned it.
The day after the flag off, the work continues.
The day after the election, Ekiti continues.
With BAO. For BAO. Because of BAO. We will cast the votes and make history with a resounding victory. 500,000+ is the target. It is not an ambition. It is a meetable expectation.
_Ekiti a gbe wa o. All of us._
_Segun Dipe is the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ekiti State._