Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has reportedly failed to return to the country nearly two weeks after he left for a four-day conference in Texas, United States.
Governor Oyebanji departed Nigeria on Sunday, May 5, 2024, to attend the 16th edition of the US-Africa Business Summit organized by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) in Dallas, Texas, which took place from May 6 to 9, 2024.
The US trip was announced in an official press statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Yinka Oyebode.
According to the statement, the summit, themed ‘US-Africa Business: Partnering for Sustainable Success’, provided a platform for collaboration on trade, investment, and innovation among Heads of national and sub-national governments, financial institutions, investors, agencies, and institutions.
Governor Oyebanji was also scheduled to participate in the nineteenth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF19) at the UN Headquarters in New York.
The statement further mentioned that the Governor would take part in the Forum’s policy sessions on the implementation of the UN Strategic Plan for Forests (UNSPF), alongside other invited Heads of state, senior government officials, private sectors, and stakeholders.
Before returning to Nigeria, Governor Oyebanji was expected to hold discussions with critical stakeholders and business leaders in the US, furthering the shared prosperity agenda of his administration.
However, Governor Oyebanji has not returned from the US, and there has been no official information providing details of any official engagements or meetings held by the governor since the conference ended on May 9.
As of the time of filing this report, there is no official information or provision of any pictures of meetings the governor held with business leaders nor the names of such persons.
A source informed SaharaReporters on Thursday that the governor was supposed to have returned, but it was surprising that he was still away.
At the moment, the state government has not disclosed the whereabouts of the governor.
