The Press Corps office at the Ekiti State Governor's Office in Ado Ekiti is located on the ground floor of the 3-storey office complex. The office offers journalists a commanding view of the entrance into the building so that the Press is aware of whoever goes in or out of the Governor's Office.
Governor Ayodele Fayose allocated the office to the Press during his first term in office and subsequent Chief Executives of the state allowed both local and other accredited journalists of radio and television stations from outside the state to operate from the office.
However, when Fayose assumed office for his second term in office, among his first executive orders was the quit notice he issued to newsmen from stations outside the state to relocate from the Press Corps' office. He moved us to an abandoned office of the Ministry of Information near the old Governor's Office.
The affected radio and television stations are, Adaba FM, AIT, Channels Television, MiTv, OnTv, Silverbird television and TVC. The next move of the new Fayose administration against this group was a letter from the Ministry of Information canceling any contract they signed with Ekiti State government on news coverage.
As time went on, the TVC crew became unwanted at state government functions and we had to relocate from the old Governor's office we shared with other Electronic colleagues and moved to the Advert office of Adaba FM at Ajilosun, far away from the Governor's Office.
My cameraman - Ojo Ogunmiloro and I were enduring this discrimination when the electioneering campaign kicked off in the neighbouring Ondo State where Governor Rotimi Akeredolu a.k.a Aketi was seeking a second term in office. As we learnt later, the TVC crew in Ondo State was directed from above to give dedicated coverage to one of the other contestants, Olusola Oke SAN, the candidate of Alliance for Democracy AD and they shunned Aketi's campaign.
When the incumbent Governor realised that TVC was not ready to cover his campaign, he went to the headquarters of the international broadcaster in Lagos and paid for a dedicated coverage of his campaign for the last 30 days before the gubernatorial election slated for November 26, 2016.
TVC management decided that their crew in the neighbouring Ekiti State where the state government had rejected them should be deployed for the special assignment.
That was how I went back to the Sunshine State this time, embedded with the campaign team of Aketi under the leadership of Mr Yemi Olowolabi. We were lodged into a hotel throughout the month-long campaign from where they picked us and dropped us daily except on weekends.
It was an exerting and exciting experience traversing the three senatorial districts of Ondo State with an incumbent Governor who was facing 16 formidable opponents who could deny him a second term. Aketi therefore put his body and soul into the campaign, leaving early and coming back sometimes when it was already dark.
There was a particular day during the campaign that we left Okitipupa after 7pm thinking that we were returning to Akure but the convoy had been directed to face Lagos via Epe and before 10pm we arrived at Victoria Island where a fundraising event had been scheduled at the Events Centre, opposite 1004 Flats. We left Lagos that same night but to Ibadan.
Although Mr Olowolabi who headed the Aketi campaign organisation knew that I filed my reports daily no matter how late we returned to base, he was amazed that TVC still packaged the fundraising story after midnight while others were sleeping. He decided to keep the vigil with my cameraman and myself and served us wine after we had sent the report to TVC Newsroom.
Today's story, today has been my policy, since the New Media have turned anybody with a smartphone to a journalist.
I cannot forget the day we traveled on water for nearly half an hour to some scattered Islands in Ondo South. It was my first experience in a speed boat not during the day but at night because it was dark before we returned to Igbokoda. My heart was in my mouth all through the journey because I cannot swim and none of us was wearing a lifejacket. I was also on Governor Akeredolu's campaign entourage to his mother's village - Igbotu and some other coastal communities in Ese Odo Local Government Area of the state.
Looking back at Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (God bless his soul) on the campaign trail, I saw a very blunt and practical politician. He went to campaign at Oda near Akure and the people gathered at the palace of the town to catch a glimpse of their Governor and hear him address them. After the usual electioneering campaign promises by the Governor who was seeking a re-election, it was the turn of the Regent of the town to respond and as usual give the royal blessing but she complained that the community had been in darkness due to a prolonged power outage and that the generator at the palace had broken down beyond repairs. Aketi immediately ordered one of his aides to go and bring a generator from Akure and a loud applause hailed the Governor's action. Then the Regent brought out a register and asked Aketi to sign it to assure the community that he would do all he had promised them just as other contestants who had come to campaign there had done. The Governor did not even open the register before returning it to the Regent and signaled to his entourage and we left the palace and the community.
My assignment with Aketi ended 24 hours to his election and I did my last interview with the Governor at the Akure Arcade where who's who in the All Progressives Congress APC in Nigeria including, President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President Bukola Saraki, several state Governors among others had stormed the Ondo State capital, Akure for the last mega rally before the election. We returned to Ado Ekiti on Friday, November 25, 2016 before the entry points to the state would be closed at midnight on the eve of the election.
From Ado Ekiti, I monitored the collation of the results as the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC declared Governor Rotimi Akeredolu APC, the winner with 292,830 votes to beat 16 other candidates including, Eyitayo Jegede of the People's Democratic Party PDP, who scored 195,791 votes and his estranged Deputy, Agboola Ajayi who contested on the platform of the Zenith Labour Party ZLP and garnered only 69,127 votes.