…imposing any candidate from Abuja will never work in Oyo APC
Against the strident complaint that Ibadan has continued to produce governors for the state to the detriment of the other zones and that another zone must produce the next governor in 2027, an Ibadan-born gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), Akeem Agbaje, Esq., has said that the surest way to attain power shift is through rotational policy.
Though he said that such a feat is too early to achieve because Ibadan also laboured for it until it was realised in 1983, Agbaje said other zones of the state, including Oyo, Ogbomoso, Oke Ogun and Ibarapa, will have to work assiduously to achieve it.
The scion of the Agbaje family at Ayeye Compound, Ibadan, who was also a former Chairman of the Ibadan branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), said this on Saturday while featuring on the “Political Circuit” programme of the Fresh FM 105.9, monitored by Sunday Telegraph in Ibadan.
Reacting to the call for power shift away from Ibadan in order to allow for equity, fairness and justice and facilitate a sense of belonging, sense of inclusion in every zone of the state, Agbaje said, “We need to be realistic about this agitation and I have always looked at it from two perspectives.
The first one is that everybody, every zone, is entitled to contest to be governor. And I am not aware of any provision of the Constitution that prevents anybody from any zone of the state from aspiring or from contesting.
The second perspective is that people think that because Ibadan has the number, that is why we take advantage to perpetuate ourselves in the governorship position and lord it over every other zone.
“I think historically, that is not correct. Ibadan had been one of the largest populous cities since the 1930s. Ibadan had been the regional capital since the 1930s. Ibadan did not get a meaningful post until 1979, and that post was the Chief Judge. Every other post, despite the population of Ibadan, was occupied by people from other zones.
The governor was from Osun; the deputy was from Osun. SSG, Head of Service, were from Osun. The Opposition Leader was from Ogbomoso. Ibadan only got a Chief Judge, and being Chief Judge was based on seniority. So, the conception that Ibadan dominates because of its population is not historically correct. Ibadan had always had a population.
“But in 1983, the consciousness came with “Omo wa ni e je o se”. But Ibadan did not just say “Omo wa ni e je o se”; they worked diligently, assiduously towards it until it was achieved. So, my take is that everybody, every zone is entitled to be the governor of Oyo state. There must be a defined approach to it. You can’t say, Oh, we are entitled, we are entitled. You have to develop a process.
The zone with the clearest agitation is Oke Ogun. And I tell them, though they don’t like it, that you have 10 local governments; Ogbomoso has 3 local governments. But Ogbomoso has presented a senator for you consecutively.
So, there has to be a conscious, deliberate effort by the Oke Ogun zone to achieve this beautiful goal of presenting somebody who can win to become governor of Oyo state. They all have to work together. Ibadan alone has not presented a candidate. Ibadan works with other zones. So, we all have to work together.
“But the easiest solution for me is to let us have a rotational policy, which will give everybody a sense of belonging. But I think it is too early, not because I am an aspirant. It involves a lot of work. Ibadan worked very hard to become governor in 1983. Osun was dominating us, but we worked at it and to the glory of God, we got it”, he said.
Speaking on why APC lost the 2023 gubernatorial election to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as well as, the recent abysmal loss of House of Representatives by-election in the Ibadan North local government, Agbaje said that leadership at Abuja was to blame.
He said, “Oyo APC lost the recent House of Representatives by-election to the PDP because the leadership at Abuja imposed a candidate who was not the choice of the party in the state, on the party.
“For me, Abuja is our problem. Whatever data, whatever parameter they used, they feel they could impose a candidate on us and win the election. I have told all that care that it can never happen in Oyo state.
“I can’t think of any other state where people will vote today in favour of a party, and two weeks later, violently vote against that same party. And Abuja still refuses to realise that we are different and we will always be different.
“They came and imposed a candidate, and they thought they would win that election. Oyo state people have seen that message in 2019. They have seen the same message in 2023.
So, Abuja has to learn that they should leave us alone to pick our own candidate. If we pick a candidate by ourselves, we know how we will make the candidate win the election”, Agbaje said.
