Ibadan – On Saturday, 16th August 2025, there were by-elections across the country, and one took place in Ibadan, Oyo State to replace the Late Hon. Musilu Olaide Akinremi of Ibadan North Federal Constituency.
From results as announced by INEC, Murphy Olatunji despite his coordinated campaign and grassroots popularity woefully lost the twelve wards of the local government to the PDP candidate, Folajimi Oyekunle. This humiliating disgrace and electoral defeat was a loud and resounding signal of deeper fractures within our great party. One thing is obvious from the outcome of the election, there is no unity whatsoever in Oyo APC.
Our Oyo APC was once a bastion of progressive ideals and coordinated political machinery in the Southwest is now sharply divided along rival and antagonistic political camps.
This egoistic divisions we are all witnessing are disagreements and entrenched cracks birthed since 2023 and outcomes from the processes and procedures that led to the emergence of the HoR candidate in the Saturday election with a resemblance of imposition.
The strife further exposed our party to ridicule by the announced result, it weakened our electoral base and emboldened our adversary who are already capitalizing on our self-inflicted wounds. Let me expressly say, if this dangerous trajectory continues unchecked, the APC in Oyo State risks spiraling into irrelevance and forfeiting its legitimate claim to political stewardship and victory in the South-West ahead of 2027.
This piece is a clarion call for profound unity, reconciliation and visionary statesmanship. There is an urgent need for a roundtable discussion to genuinely reconcile all warring camps, the gladiators and more importantly the suffering members of our party, this is to bridge the widening gaps of distrust.
This reconciliatory meeting can only be convened by Mr. President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is constitutionally the leader of our party. His intervention must be deliberate, impartial and guided by the ideals of party survival and national interest. Anything less would be tantamount to abandoning Oyo APC to the abyss of internal destruction.
Furthermore, what is urgently required at the state level is a collegiate leadership that is broad based, inclusive and magnanimous which is capable of repositioning the party for enduring relevance. Equally crucial is the remodeling of the APC reward system. Party members who toil in loyalty and sacrifice must not remain perpetual foot soldiers while opportunists reap from their sweat.
The architecture of both appointive and elective positions must be recalibrated to reward loyalty, competence and consistency. This is the only way to restore political morale, rekindle faith, awaken hope and reinvigorate the rank and file of the party faithful across Oyo State.
Lastly and most importantly, the emergence of a truly unifying and acceptable candidate through a genuinely free, transparent and fair primary election is the only panacea for APC to reclaim the Oyo Agodi Government House. Anything short of this would amount to building an edifice on a faulty foundation of discord.
Let it therefore be known that unity in 2025, 2026, 2027 and beyond is not a luxury but a necessity, reconciliation is not a plea but an imperative, and collective leadership is the sole path to victory. Only then shall the APC in Oyo State rise like a phoenix from the ashes of its current tribulations and march triumphantly towards 2027. This is my submission.
Honourable Afeez Bolaji Repete is a former Deputy National Youth Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Special Assistant to Late Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Youths and Sports
