2027: Eight Ibadan men, three others battle for Oyo APC guber ticket

No fewer than 11 aspirants purchased the expression of interest and nomination forms on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC, ahead of the 2027 gubernatorial election in Oyo State, DAILY POST reports. 

Eight of the aspirants are indigenes of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, while two are from the Oke Ogun geopolitical zone.

DAILY POST also learnt that one indigene of Ogbomoso purchased the APC form. 

The eleven aspirants who have been screened by the party in Abuja are Senator Sharafadeen Alli (Ibadan), Mr Bayo Adelabu (Ibadan), Dr Adewale Kareem (Ibadan), Barrister Akeem Agbaje (Ibadan) and Engineer Akeem Alao (Ibadan). 

Others are Dr Ayobami Lam-Adesina (Ibadan), Prince Asanke Asatola (Ibadan) and Mr Ololade Usman (Ibadan). 

The rest are Senator Abdulfatai Buhari (Ogbomoso), Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin (Oke Ogun) and Engineer Rauf Olaniyan (Oke Ogun). 

DAILY POST reports that there are five political zones in Oyo State, cutting across the 33 local government areas in the state. They include: Ibadan, Ibarapa, Ogbomoso, Oke Ogun and Oyo. 

DAILY POST reports that since the beginning of the current fourth republic in 1999, all the governors in the state came from Ibadan except the late Adebayo Alao-Akala who hailed from Ogbomoso. 

Late Alhaji Lamidi Adesina who ruled between 1999 and 2003 is from Ibadan South East local government area. 

The current Olubadan of Ibadanland Oba, Rasidi Ladoja Ladoja who ruled between 2003 and 2007 is from Ibadan South West, but lives in Ibadan North local government area. 

Late Adebayo Alao-Akala was the only person from outside Ibadan to occupy that position since 1999. 

Alao-Akala ruled between 2007 and 2011. Alao-Akala hailed from Ogbomoso North local government area. 

Late Abiola Ajimobi who hailed from Ibadan South East, lived in Ibadan South West local government area before he died in 2020. Ajimobi was the first governor to spend two terms and ruled between 2011 and 2019. 

The current governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, who is expected to finish his second term in 2027, hails from Ona Ara local government area but votes in Ibadan North East local government area. 

Our correspondent reports that this time around, the race to Agodi government house within the APC is between eight Ibadan men, two Oke Ogun indigenes and one Ogbomoso man. 

As of the time of filing this report, all the 11 aspirants have been screened by the party. 

They are going to slog it out for the APC ticket ahead of the 2027 gubernatorial election, with so much underground politicking already going on.

A chieftain of the party in one of the local government areas in Ibadan, noted that the party had taken a decision to pick someone as a consensus candidate. 

The APC chieftain, who spoke with DAILY POST on Monday, claimed that one of the aspirants has emerged as the consensus candidate. 

He said, “I am the party’s returning officer in my local government. The party has taken a decision over the selection of the flag bearer. We have been told the consensus candidate.“

Meanwhile, a senior lecturer at Lead City University, Ibadan, Dr Bayonle Busari, described the multiple number of aspirants in APC as a welcome development. 

He said that the emergence of the candidate should not be a matter of where they come from but a matter of their pedigree. 

He said, “I see the number of aspirants for the gubernatorial ticket in the APC as a welcome development, particularly if you consider the credentials and calibre of the aspirants. 

“We have a former federal minister and former deputy governor of the Central Bank, a former deputy governor of the state, a serving senator of the Federal Republic, engineers, international entrepreneurs, technocrats, and financial experts. They are eminently qualified citizens of the state in their own individual right.

“I would rather not see any of the aspirants from where they hail from but be concerned about their pedigree, antecedents, and how they can bring about expected deliverables to better the lots of the state and her downtrodden citizens.

“It is high time we began looking at the quality of someone who aspired to public office rather than being concerned with their origin, except if this will have a bearing on the performance in the office they seek to occupy.” 

2027: Eight Ibadan men, three others battle for Oyo APC guber ticket