2027: Day APC leaders stormed Oyo from four fronts

Soji Ajibola, in this report captured last week’s tour of parts of Oyo State by Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and other stakeholders, concluding that that series of events amounted to a special campaign bombardment of the state.

THURSDAY, October 15, 2026 was a special day for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, the party’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) and other stakeholders as the party chose that day to give Oyo a peculiar campaign treatment.

From four different fronts, the APC PCC, state campaign council and the door to door movement championed by the Tantita chairman, Government Tompolo stormed the city of Ibadan and the state to pass a variety of messages to the people.

There was the visit to the palace of the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, which was led by the Senator Abdulaziz Yari’s PCC, and then the visit by Tompolo to the Oyo State Governorship candidate, Senator Sharafadeen Alli and the state campaign organisation, (where campaign vehicles were donated) as well as the launch of the 17.7 megawatts pilot rural electrification project, flagged off at the Bishop Phillips Academy, Iwo Road Ibadan, by the Minister of Power, Chief Joseph Tegbe.

All the four events happening on the same day look like a major bombardment of Oyo State by the APC, but the spokesman of Senator Sharafadeen Alli’s campaign organisation, Bisi Oladele said the events happened as mere coincidences.

The fact that the PCC chose to kick-start its movements in Ibadan is however a further affirmation of the relevance of not just the traditional monarchs, but the city of Ibadan and indeed Oyo State.

The South West region played pivotal role in the birth of the democracy in the country with the contributions of the likes of the Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and the late Premier, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, among others. With this in mind, the former governor of Zamfara state, Abdulaziz Yari-led (APCPCC) noted that there is no other place to kick start their assignment than the capital seat of the Western region.

Yari and other members of the team which include former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, Senator Gbenga Daniel, Olusegun Mimiko, Sunday Dare and former Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Ahmed Idris Wase, among others, having served the country in various capacities in the past, know the efficacy of prayers in any given assignment hence their decision to visit the traditional rulers in the country, thereby, kickstarting the process with separates visit to the palace of Olubadan of Ibadan in Oke Aremo and Alaafin of Oyo in Oyo town.

The visit of the council was turned to a political rally with mammoth crowd led by members of Olubadan-in-council, the Mogajis and Baales from the eleven local government areas of Ibadan, market men and women from various trade groups, chieftain and members of APC from the 33 LGAs, captains of industries and other categories of people were on hand to receive the team.

The task must be accomplished, hence the decision of the team to head for Oyo State barely 12 hours after the inauguration by President Tinubu in Abuja.

This was attested to by Oba Ladoja while receiving in audience the council members in his palace as he made it known to them that he sat glue to his seat while watching the inauguration ceremony of the APCPCC which ended around 4pm on his television set.

Ladoja said: “I was surprised to learn of your coming to Ibadan noting the time that the inauguration ceremony ended the previous day. This shows the enormity of the assignment bestowed on the members of the Council.

“Mr President has given the council a mandate to deliver him not as a sitting President but Presidential candidate in 2027.

“My take away from the event is what the President to the Director-General, he has come not as the President but as a presidential candidate, and that it was our responsibility to deliver him. That is the key message I took away.” In order to achieve the set goal, Yari said: “We are relying on the traditional rulers to deliver on this assignment. The feat cannot be achieved without your blessings and prayers.” Aside seeking the royal blessings, Tinubu, according to the APCPCC leadership towers above other candidates of other political parties in terms of leadership qualities and service delivery.

We are not going to sell Tinubu to the electorate in the 774 local government areas of the Federation as a sitting president but as candidates based on his achievements in the past three years in office.

“We are going to campaign with the track records of President Tinubu’s achievements in office in the past seven years.

“We are going to campaign with what we have done. What we are going to do after being sworn in for the second term in office on May 29, 2027.

“Today, our economy is on the right path. This has been attested to by the survey conducted by the International community.

“All the projects started by the previous administrations in the country are receiving due attention by the present administration. While some have been completed, others are ongoing.

On infrastructure, the former governor of Zamfara state said all the six geo-political regions have been turned to the construction site.

“Tinubu has made our jobs easy to sell APC and his candidature to return as President on 16th January 2027,” he added.

The council after leaving the palace of Olubadan headed to Oyo town to pay homage to Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade.

Oba Owoade, who lauded the impact of the Tinubu-led administration in all the sectors of the economy, prayed for Tinubu’s success in 2027 for the good works that he had started in 2023.

Residents of the town who cut across different professions were not left out in paying encomium to Tinubu as they described his leadership style as unprecedented in the political annals of the country.

Also, to corroborate the efforts of the APCPCC, the Chairman of Tantita Security Services, High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo donated 32 cars with musical gadget to all the local government areas of Oyo state.

Tompolo, who spoke through the Chairman, Niger Delta Basin Authority, Chief Barrister Boi Bosin Ebikeme, said that PBAT door-to-door group, which is formed to galvanise support for re-election of Tinubu in 2027 is an organic support group “because we are not merely moving from one state to another to mobilise support. We have structures across all 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He said: “This means we are not relying on anybody else to generate support; we are doing the work ourselves.

“Beyond the state coordinators, we have coordinators in all 774 local government areas and across the 33 municipal councils in the FCT. We also have structures at the ward and unit levels, reaching people house to house, person to person, door to door, mosque to mosque, church to church and community to community.

“We have established the group to be inclusive, with ambassadors, coordinators, elders’ councils and youth bodies. We want to ensure that everybody can identify with the movement.

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“The group is funded by the grand patron, who has committed his resources to ensuring that the initiative succeeds. We are not relying on anyone else to contribute even a kobo.

“That brings me to another point: we have purchased about 1,000 vehicles equipped with electronic equipment and the necessary logistics. Every local government area has a vehicle fitted with the equipment needed to communicate our message to people across the country.”

Also, the governorship candidate of the APC in Oyo State, Senator Sharafadeen Alli assured Tinubu and other candidates of the party of a block votes from the state.

“We are very grateful. We know all your efforts towards ensuring that President Bola Tinubu is re-elected in 2027. I want to assure you that we will make judicious use of these vehicles and other items that may be donated by you and other support groups.

“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.

“We want to assure you that not only are we going to get Mr President re-elected, we will ensure we elect all our National Assembly and state House of Assembly members,” he said.

Alli recalled that Oyo State recorded the highest number of votes for Tinubu in the South-West during the 2023 presidential election, saying the party was working to double the figure in 2027.

He urged eligible voters to collect their PVCs and turn out early to vote for APC candidates on the scheduled election days.