The final battle for the successor to Senator Abiola Ajimobi as the Governor of Oyo State which is gradually being narrowed down to the two main political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections is most likely going to be between Engineer Seyi Makinde of PDP and Alhaji Kehinde Olaosebikan of APC.
These two aspirants, Makinde from fro Oyo South Senatorial District and Olaosebikan from Oyo Central Senatorial District, given the present situations in the two parties, are the best positioned aspirants for the tickets.
The case of the billionaire oil and gas magnate , Seyi Makinde as the gubernatorial candidate of PDP is virtually settled and all available facts in the corridors of power in the pacesetter state also point to Alhaji Kehinde Olaosebikan as the most favored and suitable aspirant for the ruling party’s ticket
In the Peoples Democratic Party, Engineer Seyi Makinde controls majority of the delegates (executive members) and would definitely use them to actualize his gubernatorial ambition that he has been pursuing since 2015.
For the All Progressives Congress, the incumbent Governor of the State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi is fully in charge of the delegates and would direct them to return whoever he wants as his successor in Agodi Government House.
Of late, both the media and political spaces have been a washed with the names of three aspirants whom many reports claimed are enjoying Governor Ajimobi’s support for the APC ticket. They are: Alhaji Kehinde Isiaka Olaosebikan (56), Mr. Bayo Adelabu (47) and Mr. Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe (53).
The goings-on of the aspirants have really given credence to the news reports. While the trio of Tegbe, Adelabu and Olaosebikan has in the recent times upped their games using different approaches, the other aspirants appeared to have reduced in action and visibility.
For instance, nothing much is heard again from the immediate past Head of Service, Mr. Soji Eniade who was hitherto speculated as the Ajimobi’s anointed aspirant. Also, the camps of Chief Niyi Akintola, another close ally of Senator Ajimobi and Dr. Azeez Adeduntan the present Commissioner of Health who had been using his position to gain visibility have become desolate.
The quietness on the part of Professor Adeolu Akande and Barrister Bayo Shittu, who are being described in the political circles now as players that had played their penalties to throw in, as a result of their neck deep involvement in the Unity Forum fight against the party, on the gubernatorial ticket of APC, was understandable.
However with the great strides of Olaosebikan who is the only notable politician amongst the three, it is gradually becoming clear on whose side the pendulum would swing.
The adoption of Olaosebikan, a journalist turned politician, former Chief Press Secretary to the late Governor of the state, Alhaji Lam Adesina and two time Chairman of Oluyole Local Government by his ward and local government and the planned massive supports by both the former and present students of The Polytechnic Ibadan, the main higher institution of Oyo State, are not being taken lightly be those that matter in government and in the party.
Informed sources with deep understanding of politics and governance maintained that it was not ordinary for a sitting member of a State House of Assembly and the incumbent Chief Executive of a local government to adopt a gubernatorial aspirant publicly.
The presence and full support of the State Deputy Chairman of the party is another strong pointer to the fact that the aspiration of Olaosebikan enjoys support beyond Oluyole Local Government.
As Governor Ajimobi consummates his 8 year governance of effective security, provision of unprecedented solid infrastructure and enhanced social political developments with tension and rancor free political engineering, we await the battle of Oyo South versus Oyo Central in Makinde of PDP versus Olaosebikan of APC
