The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State is once again flirting with political self-destruction and this time, the battleground is Ibadan North, the home turf of the late Hon. Musiliu Olaide Akinremi, fondly known as Jagaban.
Ibadan North is not just any constituency. It is a vital APC stronghold and one of the few places where the party still enjoys broad grassroots support. But that support is now under threat, thanks to what many are calling a familiar pattern of imposition, leadership silence, and betrayal of loyal party members.
It all started in the lead-up to the August bye-election meant to fill the vacant House of Representatives seat left by Akinremi, who died in July 2024. His passing was not just a personal loss, it created a political vacuum. Yet, it also offered the APC a chance to redeem itself and rebuild public trust after its 2023 setbacks.
Instead, the party did what it has done too often: it repeated the same mistakes that cost it power.
Rather than conducting a credible, inclusive primary, party leaders reportedly met behind closed doors and handpicked a candidate. No ballots. No competition. No grassroots input. The process was so shambolic that even INEC declared there was no valid APC primary in Ibadan North.
The fallout was swift outrage, protest, and deepening resentment from the party’s rank and file. Once again, the APC in Oyo is at war with itself.
In 2023, the party lost the governorship not because it lacked numbers, but because it failed to manage internal crises. Aspirants were muscled out. Loyal foot soldiers were ignored. Factions multiplied. The result? A devastating electoral loss not to the opposition, but to its own arrogance.
Now, just two years later, the same tragicomedy is playing out. And the cost may be even greater.
What makes this episode even more painful is how it dishonours the legacy of Akinremi Jagaban. He wasn’t a product of elite consensus he was a product of the people. A man of the grassroots, accessible and humble. He stood for openness, fairness, and representation. Choosing his successor should have been a transparent process grounded in those very principles.
But instead, we see the return of politics-as-usual the tired, corrosive culture of “select and announce.”
While APC leaders wrestle behind closed doors, the PDP has already picked its candidate and is running a full-blown campaign. They are moving fast, and who can blame them? Nature abhors a vacuum and politics even more so.
So the big question is: Is this how APC hopes to reclaim Agodi in 2027?
Can a party that routinely alienates its own members expect loyalty from the electorate? Can it demand respect from Abuja while disrespecting its own base at home?
We like to complain that Oyo doesn’t get enough appointments from the federal level. But how are we behaving locally? Are we acting like a party that deserves investment or one that’s busy sabotaging itself?
Until the APC in Oyo State learns to manage victory, it will keep turning opportunities into defeat.
