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| Senator Sharafadeen Alli |
IBADAN, Oyo State – For more than a decade, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been locked out of the Governor’s Office in Oyo State. That political drought is no longer treated as an unfortunate stretch of opposition; it has become a rallying cry. Senator Sharafadeen Alli, the party’s gubernatorial hopeful for 2027, framed it bluntly at a recent party gathering: the APC has stayed out of government in Oyo for too long, and the time to end that exile is now.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Oyo State chapter of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement at Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan, Alli told hundreds of party chieftains and grassroots members that the coming cycle is not merely another election. It is a recovery mission. “We have stayed out of government in Oyo State for too long, and we are working assiduously to ensure we take over the government in 2027,” he declared. He coupled the message with a dual pledge: secure President Bola Tinubu’s re-election while capturing every available National Assembly and State House of Assembly seat, and ultimately the governorship.
The event itself was carefully staged. The PBAT Door-to-Door Movement is one of the structured, ward-level mobilisation vehicles associated with the Tinubu campaign infrastructure. Its formal launch in Oyo signals that the federal APC is treating the state as more than a peripheral battleground.
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Hundreds of attendees filled the stadium grounds, a visual reminder that the party still commands organisational muscle even while it sits in opposition at the state level.
A Decade Outside Power: How Oyo Became a PDP Bastion
To understand Alli’s urgency, the recent political history of Oyo must be recalled. The APC (and its predecessor formations) last controlled the state during the early years of the Fourth Republic and briefly around the 2011–2015 period under different party labels. Since Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s tenure ended in 2019, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has held the governorship continuously—first under Seyi Makinde, who won in 2019 and was re-elected in 2023. Makinde’s administration has emphasised infrastructure, education reform, and relative fiscal discipline, building a reputation for competence that has proved difficult for the opposition to puncture.
Oyo’s politics have long been shaped by the interplay of Ibadan’s urban electorate, the interests of traditional institutions, and shifting federal alignments. The Southwest as a whole has been an APC heartland since the merger that created the party in 2013, yet Oyo has repeatedly defied the regional trend. Analysts point to several factors: the personal popularity of Makinde, the PDP’s effective local government structures, and periods of internal APC disunity that weakened the party’s ability to present a coherent alternative. Alli’s statement is therefore both admission and strategy—acknowledging the length of the drought while converting it into motivational fuel.
Alli’s Profile and the 2027 Calculus
Senator Sharafadeen Alli is not a newcomer. A former senator representing Oyo South, he brings legislative experience and name recognition to the race. By positioning himself early and tying his ambition tightly to the federal APC’s fortunes under Tinubu, he is attempting to solve two problems at once: consolidating the party’s base and leveraging the president’s popularity (or residual goodwill) in the Southwest. The explicit call for eligible voters to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) is standard election-season rhetoric, yet in Oyo it carries extra weight. Voter-card collection drives have historically correlated with higher turnout in contested states, and APC organisers appear determined not to leave any registration gap unaddressed.
The dual focus—presidential re-election plus state capture—is deliberate. In Nigeria’s federal system, control of a state governorship multiplies federal influence through appointments, contracts, and local security architecture. For the APC nationally, reclaiming Oyo would strengthen its Southwest footprint and deny the PDP a significant southern foothold heading into 2027.
Challenges Ahead and the Opposition’s Counter-Narrative
Turning rhetoric into victory will not be straightforward. Governor Makinde remains a formidable incumbent with a track record that resonates with many urban and rural voters. PDP structures at the local government level are entrenched. Internal APC cohesion will also be tested; gubernatorial primaries in the Southwest often produce bruising contests, and Alli will need to navigate competing ambitions within the party.
Observers note that door-to-door movements succeed only when they are sustained beyond inauguration ceremonies. The real test will be consistent ward-level engagement, issue-based messaging that goes beyond “we have been out too long,” and the ability to present a clear governing alternative on security, youth employment, and infrastructure continuity. Alli’s appeal to party members to “work for the interest of the party” is an implicit recognition that factionalism has previously cost the APC dearly in Oyo.
Broader Implications for 2027
Oyo’s contest is already shaping up as one of the more closely watched state races of the next cycle.
A successful APC recovery would alter the political map of the Southwest and reinforce the narrative of Tinubu’s consolidating influence. A continued PDP hold would demonstrate the limits of federal coattails and the enduring strength of performance-based incumbency in southern Nigeria.
For now, Senator Alli has set the tone. The long years outside government are no longer merely a statistic; they have become the central emotional and strategic argument of the Oyo APC. Whether that argument can mobilise enough voters, paper over internal differences, and overcome an entrenched incumbent remains the central question between now and 2027. The inauguration at Obafemi Awolowo Stadium was only the opening chapter. The real campaign—quiet, relentless, and measured in PVC collections and door-to-door conversations—has already begun.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Politics and Technology.
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