A group of five aggrieved All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship stakeholders in Oyo State warned on Tuesday that the party is “at a dangerous crossroad.”
The group accused certain leaders of shielding President Bola Tinubu from the true state of affairs within the party.
In a statement issued in Ibadan, the group – comprising Engr. Rauf Aderemi Olaniyan, Musbau Asatola Asanike, Engr. Oyedele Hakeem Alao, Barr. Akeem Agbaje, and Dr. Usman Ololade Bakare accused some party leaders of creating an exclusionary environment.
They warned that this approach risks triggering mass defections and a repeat of past electoral losses.
“Our primary concern is that there are forces deliberately shielding President Bola Tinubu from firsthand information on the true state of Oyo APC,” the statement read.“
“A national leader can not steer the party correctly when ground realities are censored or kept from his knowledge.”
The group further accused certain party actors of conceding the 2027 governorship to the opposition “before a single ballot is even cast,” while noting that internal dissent is routinely treated as disloyalty.
They also criticised what they described as a growing reliance on “manipulation, contrivance, and institutional compromise over the ballot.”
The stakeholders urged that genuine loyalty to the president should instead be demonstrated through “probity, discipline, and democratic stewardship.
“If this continues, Oyo APC will face the full regret of failure in 2027,” the stakeholders warned, drawing parallels to the electoral losses the party suffered in 2018 and 2022.
The statement framed its warnings as a “patriotic call to action” rather than a threat, adding that a failure of democracy in Oyo State would weaken the Southwest region and diminish Nigeria’s democratic system of governance.