After the results of the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday, February 25, 2023, in Oyo State, the calculation before the governorship election on March 11, 2023, which initially favored the re-election of Governor Seyi Makinde, may change.
Ahead of Saturday’s penultimate election, political permutations put Governor Makinde ahead of the other two main contestants, Senator Teslim Folarin of the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and Mr. Adebayo Adelabu of the Accord Party (AP). But since the results were released and the APC won three senatorial seats with eight of the 14 House of Representatives seats, while the PDP won four with two undecided, observers believe that the PDP and Makinde may now fight to retain power, come Saturday. .
In addition, the results of the poll also proved skeptics wrong as to whether Senator Folarin has what it takes to oust Makinde. Folarin, who is also the Oyo State coordinator for the Tinubu-Shettima Campaign Council, against the negative perception, led the APC to a comfortable victory. for Tinubu through 33 local councils where the APC polled 444,889 to defeat the PDP, which polled 182,977 and the Labor Party (LP), which polled 99,110.
APC also swept all three senatorial seats. Senator-elect, Abdulfatai Buhari polled 90,078 votes to win Oyo North zone while Folarin’s successor, Dr. Yunus Akintunde won Oyo Central with 108,776. Former Secretary to the Oyo State Government, Barr. Sharafadeen Ali, who polled 111,513 votes, was declared the senator-elect of Oyo Kidul.
Candidates who won eight of the 14 House of Representatives for APC include Akin Alabi (Egbeda/Ona), Adefisoye Lafioye (Akinyele/Lagelu), Olamijuwonlo Alao-Akala (Ogbomoso North/South/Orire), Muhammedah (Irepo/Olorunsogo/ Orelope), Abdulkareem Tajudeen (ATISBO/Saki West/Saki East), Akeem Adeyemi (Afijio/Atiba/Oyo East/Oyo West), Remi Oseni (Ibarapa East/Ido), and Akinremi Musiliu (Ibadan North).
Folarin also succeeded in delivering the region for APC, where he polled 218 votes to defeat the PDP, which got 50 votes.
The Oyo Central APC candidate, Dr. Yunus Akintunde polled 164 votes to defeat his main challenger, Chairman Bisi Ilaka PDP, who polled 119 votes and Engr. Nurudeen Faozey of Accord, who polled 29 votes.
APC also recorded victory in the House of Representatives election with 150 votes for Akin Alabi. PDP and Accord candidates scored 112 votes and 47 votes respectively.
Folarin had emerged as the governorship candidate of Oyo APC last year against the support of some members of Oyo APC, especially those from the progressive wing of the party. He is irritated that the senator and his supporters lied to party wards, local councils and state congressmen and primaries in order to become candidates.
Many progressive members of Oyo APC later vowed not to support the ideals of the governor (Folarin). After the Oyo APC congress and primaries, some aggrieved aspirants and stakeholders left the party in anger.
After the primary, Folarin was deliberately branded with all the unprintable names including the popular slogan, Jagba, meaning ‘Usurper.’ Adelabu, a former Central Bank deputy governor, who contested the governorship primary with Folarin but lost, defected to take the Accord Party governorship ticket. Another gubernatorial aspirant, Joseph Tegbe defected to take the Oyo South senatorial ticket from PDP, while the likes of Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN), who also lost to Folarin did not leave the party but allegedly supported the loyalists in the party. support Governor Seyi Makinde.
Another aggrieved APC member, Kola Daisi, who contested the ticket of the party’s Southern senatorial candidate but lost to Sharafadeen Alli defected to Accord to contest the senatorial election.
Other critical stakeholders of Oyo APC deliberately avoided Folarin and showed no involvement in the party’s campaign until the presidential election, which took place last Saturday.
Ahead of Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly polls, it has been reported that Tinubu, who is said to be less concerned about Folarin’s gubernatorial ambitions, allegedly signed an agreement with Governor Makinde, when he held a presidential rally in Ibadan on Thursday, February. 16, 2023.
Observers were surprised that Tinubu, who came to Makinde governorship and also praised the incumbent governor for his good performance, arrived at Mapo Hall, the campaign venue in the evening after keeping party members waiting for hours.
Misinterpreting Tinubu, Makinde Meeting Means Confirmation
The meeting between Tinubu and Makinde before the presidential election has been largely taken for an agreement between the President-elect, Tinubu and the governor that Makinde, who is one of the G-5 PDP governors, who has vowed to work against the interests of the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, will surrender the state for Tinubu, while the former governor of Lagos State will pay him back either by supporting him in the March 11 governorship poll after winning the presidential election or later compensating him ( Makinde) with a juicy appointment in his cabinet.
The irony of the agreement is that Makinde is the only person who stands to gain if Tinubu finally respects the terms of the negotiations. The feeling from Oyo PDP is that whether Makinde is re-elected on Saturday or not, the majority of the PDP National Assembly candidates who lost the election are for naught.
From the investigation of The Guardian, some PDP candidates who lost the contest were miffed with the governor, alleging that Makinde sold the chance to APC and Tinubu because of personal and selfish interest.
It was gathered that Tegbe, who contested the Oyo South senatorial election but lost to Alli of the PDP, had cried before the contest. Although, he has expressed his determination to challenge the poll results in court.
Sources also said PDP National Vice Chairman, Ambassador Taofik Arapaja is also not happy with the development in Oyo APC, while some party members who earlier hoped for Makinde to win smoothly against Folarin are now having second thoughts.
To voice their grievances, more than 190,000 members of Oyo PDP, have since declared their support for APC and Folarin. On the platform, PDP Vanguard, the defectors, through their official Twitter account, @pdpvanguard, on Wednesday, announced that their support for Folarin was due to the poor performance of the party in the presidential and national assembly polls.
But the APC has started telling the PDP, who still believe there is an agreement between Tinubu and Makinde, to refrain from making false claims about having Tinubu’s endorsement.
APC Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, denied claims that Makinde played a key role in Tinubu’s victory in the state.
Folarin, through his media aide, Yekini Olaniyi, also released the agreement and called on other opposition parties to take a cue from PDP Vanguard by joining him to rescue Oyo from Makinde’s maladministration.
PDP stalwart and former deputy governor of Oyo, Azeem Gbolarumi, said it was too early to speak because the party was still holding important meetings. The PDP spokesman in Oyo, Akeem Olatunji, could not be reached for comment.
For Oyo APC to claim there is no agreement is tantamount to playing politics with reality. Makinde is perhaps the closest among the PDP G-5 governors to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who is considered the most vocal and leader of the group. In Rivers State, Tinubu also met Wike before the presidential election just as he (Tinubu) met Makinde. The two PDP governors delivered their states to the president-elect but what is unclear or unknown is whether Tinubu promised the governor of Oyo State to support him to keep the state on March 11.
One thing Oyo APC should not gamble with is to go to the governorship poll with the euphoria of the results of the presidential and National Assembly election results. According to feelers, Makinde is still popular among voters. And although Tinubu has an agreement with Makinde, there is little the president-elect can do to determine how the electorate will vote there.