The outgoing Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, can no longer attend governorship campaign events of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, based on the Tinubu’s orders.
To many people’s surprise, Oyo fell to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the presidential election.
Ajimobi lost his Oyo South Senatorial District bid to Dr. Kola Balogun of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 105,720 votes to Ajimobi’s 92,579 votes, meanwhile, the other two senatorial slots were won by the APC. To worsen matters, of the five federal constituencies in Ajimobi’s Oyo South, APC won only one, while PDP has already won three and is set to claim the fourth when the election is concluded this weekend.
APC’s woeful outing in Ajimobi’s expected stronghold has prompted protests from party leaders, with Bola Tinubu, the National leader, now personally overseeing the campaigns in a desperate bid to prevent a potential surrendering of the governorship to the PDP.
And this has caused Tinubu nightmares, which he has set out to overcome. He has convinced the former governor of the state, Christopher Alao-Akala, who holds considerable influence over his base in Ogbomosho, a major voting bloc in Oyo, to jettison his governorship bid on the platform of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) and return to the APC.
The goal is to ensure Adebayo Adelabu, the APC governorship candidate, trounces Seyi Makinde of the PDP. It remains to be seen if Tinubu can trust Alao-Akala to deliver, given Makinde’s popularity and the general dissatisfaction with Abiola Ajimobi’s stewardship as governor of Oyo State for the past eight years.
“The belief of Tinubu and other APC leaders is that it is Ajimobi that the people are angry with — not APC — therefore he should stay away from campaign activities,” an APC source very familiar with the development told SaharaReporters.
“The fear is that Ajimobi’s appearance at Adelabu’s campaign rallies will be damaging for the party. In fact, there is a jingle of the party begging the people, explaining that Ajimobi, not the party, is the fall guy. Since the presidential and national assembly elections, Adelabu has been campaigning on his own — without the Governor’s involvement.”
In the said jingle, listened to by SaharaReporters, APC “begged” all indigenes of the state in the name of God and in the names of prominent Yoruba sons such as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Governor Bisi Akande and Tinubu. The party also mentioned President Muhammadu Buhari and Adams Oshiomhole as begging the people and specifically censured Ajimobi for his pride in disrespecting the Olubadan of Ibadan, among many other offences.
With Alao-Akala’s withdrawal for Adelabu, Tinubu has already gained inroad into Ogbomosho, where the party could not campaign ahead of the February 23 elections.
Source: Saharareporters
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