Stakeholders within the Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have chosen to await the intervention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to possibly resolve their misgivings over the emergence of Senator Sharafadeen Alli as the governorship candidate of the party.
The National Working Committee of the APC had endorsed Alli as the governorship candidate to the chagrin of other contestants, including Senator Fatai Buhari, Chief Adebayo Adelabu and the former deputy governor in the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde, Engineer Rauf Olaniyan, as well as the state’s Renewed Hope Ambassador, Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin, among others.
The quartet met in Ibadan last week and resolved to work for the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the January 2027 election, without making any mention of the role they would play in the governorship election.
It would be recalled that Oyo State has been under the control of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since 2019, when the party took over from the APC-led government of Senator Abiola Ajimobi, who completed his two terms in office.
Though Governor Seyi Makinde’s PDP is embattled, he has since endorsed candidates on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), whose governorship candidate, Bimbo Adekanmbi, he is pushing as a likely successor.
In line with the largely two-horse race outlook of the governorship race in Oyo State ahead of 2027, it was learnt that the APM camp has been making overtures to the aggrieved members of the APC to team up with it to defeat the party.
Sources close to the APC, however, said that while the stakeholders have not written off the idea of reconciliation, they are hopeful that President Tinubu would personally intervene to pave the way out of the crisis.
A source told the newspaper that the aggrieved aspirants were not involved in a do-or-die affair, but that they believed that the process that led to the emergence of Senator Alli was not democratic enough.
“The party knew where they wanted to go, but they needed to note that as stakeholders in the party, you need the influence of all to deliver in a keenly contested election,” a source stated, adding that the big four were just packed aside as if they never mattered.
“Up till now, nobody can tell how our primaries went. We saw the primaries in the other states. Candidates were announced on the field, but in our case, two months after the primaries, the results remained a mystery. If there had been proper consultations, anybody could have won, and all of us would have supported them. But we are opposed to imposition,” another source stated.
It was, however, learnt that a contact and mobilisation committee of the APM in the state is already on the prowl, looking out for chieftains of the APC to poach and those who would collaborate with it to deal with the APC a deadly blow.
“The stakeholders are hopeful that President Tinubu will intervene in due course. I think that is what could resolve the jigsaw over the Oyo APC primaries. It is saddening that no result has been properly declared till now,” another party leader said.
The chieftain said that all stakeholders have resolved to work for President Tinubu but added that things would reset after the presidential election.
It happened in 2023 when the party went one way at the presidential election and turned the other way during the governorship election, so we are watching events,” a source stated.
