Oyo APC: Time to End Feuding, Badmouthing of Party’s Candidates | B. Aderemi Ogundele
In 2023 after the primary election debacle, I chose not to be consoled, comforted or reconciled because I was overwhelmed by bitterness. The way and manner the party congresses and primaries went then really exasperated me. Just the same way it did to many others. To me, I saw fraud, I saw oppression and I saw injustice in a way beyond my imagination. It was too bitter a pill for me to swallow.
But because I was not in position to correct anything, and I could not stand the charade being perpetrated, I had to take the path of honour. I quitted the party. My space in the party was automatically filled because nobody is indispensable in life. But despite what I considered to be a sort of political injury, I did not resort into disparaging the party. And I did not wait a day longer than necessary before taking the exit route.
To stay in a party while you are aggrieved and refused to be reconciled in spite of all overtures being made for peace to reign is not the best. Two options to a credible individual are available. One, is to let go and wait for future opportunities. Two, is to step aside and allow the party to run their stuffs without let or hindrance. Don’t stay behind to play the role of a spoiler. Don’t stay behind to pull down the roof on top of others. Democracy provides for plurality of choices and the best thing is to make use of that advantage.
The APC party primaries for the 2027 general elections have come and gone. With the uploading of candidates’ names into the INEC portal concluded, the curtain seems to have been drawn. By now the dust raised should be allowed to settle down. Time is of essence, and to say the obvious, the party is running out of time needed for reconciliation for it to move forward. Whatever grievances one may be nursing, and no matter how hurtful the wounds may be, getting it healed now is the answer.
The primaries are over, and that is irreversible. Yes, the processes were flawed. Yes, the processes were compromised. Yes, there was injustice in the way the whole thing was handled. “Ti a ba ni ka ro didun ifon, a ho ara de egun”. Intraparty political animosity is not supposed to dwell for a lifetime. Moreso when the general elections are fast approaching.
It is only in the APC that issues that emanate from party primaries do take another four years to resolve. Only God knows where our people keep their spirit of give and take. The best option for a partyman is to take advantage of the window of reconciliation and negotiation opened by the party. But where such has irrevocably broken down, then, the option left is to step aside.
One big challenge confronting Oyo APC today is the presence of “enemies within”. Just as it happened in 2019 and 2023, so it is happening now. And the consequences have always been dire. Losing gubernatorial elections back-to-back as a result of self-sabotage is nothing other than self-destruction.
This Yoruba proverb summarizes it all: “Epa npa ara re o loun npa aja, bi aja ba ku, se yoo wa laye?” Meaning, the parasitic dog tick destroys itself believing it is killing its host dog, if the dog dies, will the tick dog survive? This is simply preposterous. “O se kinni lule, o se keji lule, ema je ka se keta lule…” For crying out loud, this is the time to get things right.
Was there a gubernatorial aspirant that would have emerged as the candidate in the 2026 primaries and everybody would accept him without raising a finger? The answer is NO. Remember that everbody did not clap for late Senator Abiola Ajimobi in 2011 when he emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of the ACN. Oloye Adebayo Adelabu’s emergence in 2019 attracted some controversies. Same for Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin in 2023, who was denigrated by his party members before throwing him under the bus.
Therefore, expecting Senator Sarafadeen Abiodun Alli’s candidacy this time to have unanimous acceptability is a big joke. None of the prophets of God had everybody queuing behind them in their days despite their connections with the spiritual realms. Not our Lord Jesus Christ, and not even Prophet Muhammed S.A.W.
Therefore, we must listen to the invaluable counsel of our national chairman, Professor Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda. He was in Ibadan last week and had parleys with the party aspirants, leaders and other stakeholders. He described the APC as a family where disagreements among members were normal but should not be allowed to weaken the party ahead of 2027.
He also took responsibility on behalf of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party for all the shenanigans that characterized the primaries. And I expect that the apologies rendered by him must be accepted unconditionally for the sake of our party. We do witness some flaws in the United States of American version of democracy that we copied. Therefore, having similar experience in Nigeria is not out of place.
The fact that the party has been out of power for almost eight years is even enough reason for members to call themselves to order, and give peace a chance. Who does it profit when the party fails in winning elections? In fact the greatest losers are the members of the party. And for anybody to be encouraging such to repeat itself in 2027 is the height of incorrigibility. To even call it a malady is not an exaggeration.
At this juncture, may I humbly appeal to our members to stop badmouthing, castigating and demarketing our candidates for the 2027 general elections. We can understand the opposition party members doing their job by speaking ills of our candidates. But for our members aligning with them to do the same is unacceptable. We have a lot to benefit in our party winning than supporting another party to secure victory. Remember that Gov Seyi Makinde did nothing to compensate you for supporting his gubernatorial ambition in 2023. That is what “faaja” can bring. Total loss of political labor !
Please let’s come back home and begin to do the needful. Let’s start promoting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for re-election, Senator Sarafadeen Abiodun Alli for governor, Senator Yunus Akintunde for re-election, Hon Akin Alabi for re-election and Engr Funmi Obisesan for Oyo State House of Assembly, Ona Ara State Constituency. The candidates listed above are the assignments available for us in Ona Ara local government, Oyo Central Senatorial District. Kindly replicate this model wherever you are located within the nooks and cranies of Oyo State, and work for your candidates’ victory.
We shall not labor in vain by His Grace.
B. Aderemi Ogundele
(JagunmoluBAO)
Former Executive Chairman,
Ona Ara Local Government.
August 24, 2026.
