Amidst credible reports that marine minister, Gboyega Oyetola has opted out Of the 2026 race, three chieftains of APC in Osun state are engaged in tough battle to supplant their exited boss.
Chief Bisi Akande and some other top APC had reportedly prevailed on Oyetola to step down from the race as his chances of beating the incumbent, Ademola Adeleke, is very low.
Akande and others were reported to have reasoned that a new face stands a better chance of beating the incumbent than an Oyetola who they believe has suffered irreparable reputational damage.
Oyetola camp was reported to have initially pushed back at the pressure on the ground that those being proposed as replacement for him are politically weak, lack solid rapport with the people and are likely to be easily crushed by the Adeleke political machine.
Oyetola was however overpowered in the ensuing brainstorming among top leaders even though Oyetola was said to have gotten a concession that he should have an overwhelming say in who would replace him as APC candidates 2026.
Ever since the unannounced exit of the Marine Minister from the race, three politicians from APC have been positioning themselves for the replacement race namely the current APC National Secretary, Ajibola Bashiru, the operation director at Nigeria Ports Authority, Lanre Badmus and the boss of National Inland Waterway Authority, Bola Oyebaminji.
The fourth Shadowy name being rumored to be interested is Senator Iyiola Omisore even though it is not clear if the Ife Prince is in the good books of either Oyetola or Akande, the main power brokers in the state APC.
The scheming among the contenders Include hosting of empowerment programmes where millions of naira are expended. Oyebamiji of NIWA and Lanre of NPA are particularly prominent in this style, development that exposes them to petition writings to anti-graft agencies Among others.
It was rumoured that petitions against the duo of Lekan and Oyebamiji were being raised by another camp who accused those running the empowerment programmes of engaging in corrupt practices.
An Oyetola loyalist who was bitter about the alleged forced exit of Oyetola from the race queried where Lekan and Bola are getting the fund from, hinting that the APC may produce replacement with anti-graft cases on their necks.
“They want to replace Oyetola. Is that how to go about it? They should get ready for petitions on their source of wealth. How can people be this reckless?
“And whoever among them can beat Adeleke? They are mere political ants. Adeleke will crush them mercilessly. How can Lekan, Bola or Badhiru beat Adeleke? We are just mere jokers”, the Oyetola ally posited.
A party official at state PDP secretariat told this reporter that the ruling party is not bothered about if Oyetola is dropped from the race or not, adding “ whoever is fielded by APC will be beaten by Governor Adeleke.
“We are winning in 2026 and we are considering supporting our son, Tinubu, if he contests for a second term. There will be no federal force here as Tinibu gets our back as we get Tinubu back.
“Tell those small fries. There is no vacancy at Aberecome 2026. They should not waste their time. More importantly, they should not become customers of anti-graft agencies the way they are acting in their respective agencies “, the PDP chieftain affirmed under condition of anonymity.
●Culled from Gazette Times
