I am sure, by the time the great party in Nigeria—the APC, Ekiti State chapter—finishes reading this, I may have been politically roasted, suspended, or even sacked.
But people like us do not, because we want to eat beef, start calling or addressing or worshipping the cow. Akòlé torí pé a fẹ jẹ ẹran ká má pè màlú ní brọda! Sabàfà!
I, Wale Ojo-Lanre, Esq., would never do that. The truth must be told. And the truth, my friends, is a bitter yam that must be swallowed with courage. And today, that yam is about Princess (Chief) Monisade Christianah Afuye, Deputy Governor of Ekiti State.
Yes—the same woman they call “iyan hawker”. Yes—the same woman some deride because she does not have a PhD to hang on her wall. Yes—the same woman whose critics, from beer parlours to WhatsApp groups, insist “should never have been Deputy Governor.”
They say governance is for eggheads, for those who have swallowed alphabet soup—BSc, MSc, PhD. They say selling pounded yam is not a political CV. They say the Government House is no extension of Oja Oba market.
And I agree with them. Yes—such a woman must go. She must go… on doing exactly what she is doing now. Because if performance is the metric, if delivery is the yardstick, then this so-called “iyan seller” is making many of our “professorial politicians” look like lazy apprentices in the school of governance.
Let’s start with the basics they don’t tell you:
Princess Monisade Afuye is not just any woman—she is a princess of Ikere-Ekiti, the daughter of the immediate past Ogoga of Ikere. She holds an OND and HND in Catering and Hotel Management from Crown Polytechnic—qualifications grounded in service, organisation, and people management. She is no stranger to dignity, protocol, and responsibility—after all, she grew up in a palace.
So impressive has her performance been that the First Lady of Ekiti State publicly declared her a “bundle of wisdom”, a quality she attributes to Afuye’s royal upbringing.
Afuye’s records
As Chairman of the Ekiti State Boundary Commission, she has quietly turned hot borders into cool handshake zones. In May this year, when the Ekiti–Ondo border dispute threatened to boil over, she was there—not with sirens or slogans, but with technical committees, peace tables, and the rare gift of listening.
From Isinbode vs. Eda-Ile quarrels to Ondo–Ekiti tensions, she has shown that the work of peace is not glamorous—but it is essential.
But it’s not just borders. This “iyan seller” has cracked chieftaincy disputes that had festered for decades—problems that many PhD holders and seasoned bureaucrats had failed to resolve. She has done what others talked about for years but never achieved: deliver reconciliation where ego and tradition had deadlocked communities.
While her critics were busy throwing shade online, she was marching on the streets in July 2024, leading a sensitisation walk so women entrepreneurs could access a ₦1 billion loan window. She launched the World Bank-backed NFWP-SU programme in Ekiti, unlocking opportunities for women’s savings groups and MSMEs. She connected funding to real people—not just budget speeches.
She has faced the governing councils of state institutions and demanded performance for every kobo subvention. She has kept security lines warm and functional, so Ekiti’s relative peace is not an accident but a design.
And in July and August this year, the political bigwigs of the South-West—across factions—endorsed Oyebanji and Afuye for another term. Endorsements don’t win elections, but they are not given to political benchwarmers either.
So, yes, she must go. She must go on building peace. She must go on resolving age-old traditional disputes. She must go on expanding women’s economic power. She must go on proving that the dignity of honest labour is not a disqualification for high office.
Those who sneer at her “iyan seller” background forget that democracy is government of the people—and “the people” are not all professors. The market woman, the artisan, the farmer—they are the soul of Ekiti. And perhaps it takes one of their own to govern with both humility and grit.
So I say it again for the record:
The Deputy Governor, the iyan hawker… must go—on delivering beyond expectation.
Because in a country drowning in empty credentials and loud incompetence, a quiet performer is the rarest treasure of all.
…..go ko, gone ni!
God bless the APC Ekiti State. God bless Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji for being a good leader for a superlative Deputy Governor Princess Monisade Christianah Afuye.
