BAYO AGBOOLA from Ibadan examines the many losses of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state and the implication of the party’s victory in the presidential election as well as the forthcoming May 29 inauguration of the President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
APC’s losses
It is a fact that all is not well with the Oyo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) going by the party’s poor performances in the March 2023 polls where the party was roundly defeated in both the governorship and House of Assembly elections.
The party woefully lost the governorship election contrary to expectations that the party is coasting to victory going by the outcome of the presidential election in the state.
Similarly, in the House of Assembly elections, APC disgracefully lost in the election with the rampaging Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning 31 of the available 33 seats in the House of Assembly.
Bracing with new crisis
The party, no doubt, after the March 18 elections is yet to recover from the shocks of the election amidst fresh crisis of who takes what in the incoming administration of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, come May 29.
As a solution, a group within the party is tasking Tinubu, to among other things, rally notable leaders and stakeholders that worked for the actualisation of his electoral victory in Oyo state for a meeting ahead of the inauguration day (May, 29).
In retrospect, the days of late Senator Abiola Ajimobi as leader of the party in the state, the fear of APC was the beginning of political wisdom in Oyo state as the party in its hey days was in full control of itself despite the pockets of crises rearing its head within the party.
The pockets of crisis were enough to culminate in the party losing the governorship election immediately after eight years tenure of Senator Abiola Ajimobi during which late Ajimobi himself lost the Oyo South senatorial district election to Senator Kola Balogun of the PDP then.
Contrary to expectations that APC in Oyo state would after the electoral defeat reorganise and reposition itself as the main opposition party, the party lost one of its respected leaders in the person of a former governor of the state, Senator Abiola Ajimobi thereby leaving the party more open to fragmentations.
After the demise of Ajimobi, the mantle of leadership fell on another former governor of the state, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala who also before his death devoted all his political wisdom to get the party together but to no avail.
Some party chieftains attributed the death of Senator Ajimobi and Otunba Alao-Akala within one year to the present predicament of APC in Oyo state as the party was left with no other formidable leader to serve as a rallying point in the party.
This ran into the period of 2021 congresses that produced state, local government and ward executives which no doubt resulted in things finally fallen apart in the party.
Exodus of members
Another major political calamity befall APC in Oyo state during the
2022 primaries of the party that produced the governorship and National Assembly and State House of Assembly candidates which further polarized the party across the 33 local government areas of the state.
Many of the aspirants that lost out in the primaries including governorship wasted no time in defecting to other political parties to achieve their ambition with most them pitching their political tents with the Accord, Labour Party and even the ruling PDP in the state.
The mass defection of these aspirants with their support in no small measure contributed to the woeful performance of APC at the governorship and House of Assembly polls.
To political observers, though APC won all the available three Senatorial seats in Oyo state and the nine of the 14 House of Representatives seats in the state, the party could not consolidate its base in Oyo state by winning the governorship and the House of Assembly elections of March 18 to prove its political relevance.
Only for the party and its candidate for the governorship election, Senator Teslim Folarin to poll 256,685 votes far behind Engr Seyi Makinde of the PDP who scored 563,756 votes leaving a margin of 307,071 votes.
New fears
In Oyo state like in other parts of Nigeria, the 2023 general elections, no doubt, have come and gone but not without leaving behind serious apprehension within the Oyo APC camp as per what becomes of the party in the fortune in the next and new government of Asiwaju Tinubu as from May 29 this year.
This apprehension, among other issues, is apparently unsettling the warring camps in the party few days to the May 29 inauguration.
Call for meeting with President-elect
A group, Greater Oyo State Forum only last week, appealed to the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to rally notable leaders and stakeholders that worked for the actualisation of his electoral victory in Oyo state for a meeting with Asiwaju Tinubu ahead of the inauguration day.
They argued that such meeting would allow the leaders to pay their homage on the president-elect because there hasn’t been any of such ‘congratulatory visit’ to the Asiwaju since February when he won at the poll.
Greater Oyo State Forum in a statement by its Chairman, Hon. Simeon Adeleke emphasised that such visit would engender mutual trust among the people of the state and the president-elect because they are already worried that the state hasn’t been properly represented notwithstanding the visit of G5 Governors to the President-elect, where Governor Seyi Makinde of the State also featured prominently, adding that. key stakeholders from other South West states have visited the President-elect.
According to the group, the death of its prominent leaders, especially, two former governors and first class Royal Fathers, should not be an excuse not to have other pro-Tinubu leaders making it to Abuja on congratulatory visit.
They, stressed, “a number of eminent people of the state; traditional rulers, religious leaders, women groups, market men and women led by the Babaloja and Iyaloja and others supported Asiwaju to clinch landslide victory spanning all the 33 local governments during the election.”
On the political side, the wife of former governor of the state, Mrs Florence Ajimobi; a serving Executive Secretary of National Sugar Development Council, Mr. Zacch Adedeji; a notable philanthropist who doubles as the Chairman/CEO, Ilaji Hotels and Sports Resort, Engr. Dotun Sanusi, among others worked for the success of Mr President-elect before and during the election.
“Asiwaju should open his doors to the people of Oyo state to rejoice with him like other states have been doing. We are the first set of people to endorse Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in all the states of the Southwestern Nigeria. Our traditional rulers including Ibadan senior chiefs, Mogajis, Baales and others organised several rallies across Ibadanland and Oyo state.
“On many occasions, Ilaji stadium in Akanran, Ona Ara local government was the venue for such events. We can say Tinubu’s presidency was a collective efforts and our incoming President must not ostracize Oyo state in the scheme of things.
“He needs to have our people as cornerstone of his administration. He should create an interface with our people and leaders before the inauguration later this month. It is ironical that since February, almost three months after Asiwaju was declared as winner, none of these great sons and daughters of our state have been hosted or allowed to pay a congratulatory visit to the incoming president.
“This group observes that other states have had their leaders hosted by the President-elect but Oyo state which posted the best result in the Southwest geopolitical zone has not had the opportunity to have its leaders visiting the new leader of our country.
“Should this continue till when Asiwaju takes oath of office as the most powerful leader of the most populous black nation of the world, how would it be possible to ensure that our people enjoy dividends of their sacrifice(s) during the struggles to get Mr President elected?
“It is, therefore, a matter of urgency that the stakeholders from the state rally themselves to also congratulate the President-elect, with a view of positioning our state for the task ahead, especially, as it concerns federal presence, political patronages and infrastructural facilities of the new government of the federation for all the geopolitical zones of our state.”
To political observers, the fears in the Oyo APC over what becomes of the party in the government could best be described as product of the prolonged polarisation rocking the party as clearly manifested in the March elections results in which PDP cleared the governorship and the House of Assembly seats.
Tinubu’s victory favourable to Oyo APC or Makinde’s PDP?
Going by the feelers in political circles in the state, stakeholders in the party the state may not be able to cut much of the deal the way it ought to be under the in coming government considering the fact that the PDP G5 Governors’ purported tactical support for the election of the President elect will no doubt have its own critical impact.
The Engr. Seyi Makinde’s factor as a key figure in G5 Governors will surely come to play in deciding what comes to the pace setters state in the new political arrangement.
With the apprehension within the Oyo APC, some of the stakeholders are still of the view that all hope of the party getting its due share in the Asiwaju Tinubu’s administration is not yet lost provided the party leaders can without wasting time work out a lasting reconciliation in state party structure as well as bow to the leadership of Asiwaju Tinubu irrespective of their feud.
