The recent decision of Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde and the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state to hand over the ticket of the party in Oyo South senatorial district to a member of the opposition is not unprecedented, OYOINSIGHT.COM can report.
Recall that three days ago, this newspaper reported how the the state leadership of the PDP officially endorsed a 2019 guber aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Joseph Tegbe for the senatorial seat, leaving the incumbent Senator Kola Balogun out in the cold.
However, this was the same scenario that played out in the party ahead of the 2019 general election when the name of Bayo Lawal, the current Commissioner for Justice, was replaced with that of the incumbent Balogun as its candidate for Oyo South senatorial district.
Prior to getting the ticket, Balogun, who is the younger brother of the Otun Olubadan of Ibadan and a former Oyo Central senator, High Chief Lekan Balogun, was one of the 12 aggrieved governorship aspirants of the African Democratic Congress, ADC. Balogun and 11 others were unhappy with the announcement of Olufemi Lanlehin as ADC gubernatorial candidate.
Former sports minister, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja was also said to have signified interest in the ticket at the ‘dying minutes.’
Lawal had initially defeated former deputy governor, Barr Hazeem Gbokarumi, to clinch the ticket. Makinde had deliberately ensured that Lawal, who was his 2019 campaign director general, clinch the ticket.
“Makinde is calculative this time around. He was not okay with the aspirants from Oyo South. And that was why he drafted his campaign DG into the race. He knew that some popular gubernatorial aspirants will fall out with their parties. Initially, he had talks with Sen. Adesoji Akanbi before the latter secured the ticket of the African Democratic Congress,ADC. He also held talks Alli,” a reliable source told OYO INSIGHT in 2018.
