Oyo State was formed in 1976 when Western Nigeria was
divided into Ogun, Ondo and Oyo. It later became the new Oyo after Osun State
was carved out in 1991. Bola Ige was the 1st executive governor of
Oyo State (1979 – 1983 UPN) but failed to be re-elected despite
his remarkable effort as governor. He was followed by Dr Victor Olunloyo (Oct
1983 – Dec 1983 NPN). Chief Kolapo Ishola was later elected as 3rd
governor of Oyo State (Jan 1992 – Nov 1993 SDP).
The 4th republic kicked off with Lam Adesina
emerging as governor under Alliance for Democracy between 1999-2003. He was
succeeded by Senator Adewolu Ladoja in 2003 as a PDP candidate and his deputy
then was Adebayo Alao Akala. The power tussle between the late Adedibu and
Ladoja let to the laters impeachment which automatically made Akala the
governor for about 11 months till it was overturned in dec 2006 bu by May 2007
Alao Akala managed to emerged as the PDP candidate and became governor of Oyo
State. These events were marred with a lot of violence and resulted in slowing
down the development of Oyo State.
In 2011, Ajimobi defeated Alao Akala to become the 7th
governor of Oyo State as an ACN candidate. Although he had already contested in
2007 as an ANPP candidate, the PDP was alleged to have manipulated the polls to
ensure Alao Akala became governor.
Currently Oyo State have 5 strong contenders running for
governor, two of which have been governor before and one is currently the
incumbent governor. Although there is a myth that ‘Oyo o kin sin enikan ni e meji”
(Oyo does not serve the same master twice), these 3 happen to be among the top
contenders. Meanwhile, other states like
Ekiti and State of Osun have broken the myth of re-electing a governor twice
already so who says Oyo can’t do the same.
Brief profile of the candidates:
Candidate
|
DOB
|
Origin |
Party
|
Academic Qualification
|
Political Experience
|
Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi
|
Dec 1949
|
Ibadan
|
APC
|
Bsc Biz Admin and Finance & MBA
|
Senator (2003-2007), Governor (2011 - til date)
|
Adebayo Alao Akala
|
Jun 1950
|
Ogbomosho
|
LP
|
Dip in Biz Admin
|
LG Chair (1999-2002), Deputy Gov (2003 - 2006 & Gov (Jan - dec
(2006), 2007 - 2011)
|
Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja
|
Sep 1944
|
Ibadan
|
Accord
|
Bsc Engineering
|
Senator (1993) & Governor (2003 - 2006)
|
Seyi Makinde
|
Dec 1967
|
Ibadan
|
SDP
|
Bsc Engineering
|
NA
|
Teslim Kolawole Folarin
|
Oct 1963
|
Ibadan
|
PDP
|
Bsc Political Science
|
Senator (2003-2011)
|
Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi
 |
| Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi |
An accomplished professional and a former senator, Ajimobi has been
governor for over 3years in Oyo State. He came in just after Akala and at a
point where the state witnessed a lot of violence and unrest. Till date a lot
of shops shut down by 8pm as a result of their experience with armed robbery,
violence and thuggery that was associated with Akala’s government. Since he became governor, the state has been
relatively safer, cleaner and beautiful.
Oyo has witnessed major road expansion and construction in the same time-frame. Introduction of YESO, the transformation of BCOS and the new Agodi gardens are
just a few of what Ajimobi has done so far. This is not to say he is perfect or
outstanding but from where the state is coming from he has done well.
One thing a lot of people who have interacted with him hold
against him is the claim that he is very arrogant and also his wife has so
much power that she gets involved in major decision making. After the fall out of an alliance with Ladoja and Accord party which was used to stabilised the house of Assembly, Ladoja accused him of inflating contracts and
displacing a lot of traders and artisans in the name of beautification.
Ajimobi has an advantage as an incumbent and also various resources at his disposal including funds to contest. Will people focus on his performance and overlook his shortcomings? Will his opponent not use the alleged influence of his wife in governance against him during campaign? Will the allegations of contract inflation be backed by facts and figures to discredit him by Ladoja? Will the educated and aware judge him by his performance and for that singular reason or will they allow irrelevant sentiment cloud their judgement?
Ajimobi has an advantage as an incumbent and also various resources at his disposal including funds to contest. Will people focus on his performance and overlook his shortcomings? Will his opponent not use the alleged influence of his wife in governance against him during campaign? Will the allegations of contract inflation be backed by facts and figures to discredit him by Ladoja? Will the educated and aware judge him by his performance and for that singular reason or will they allow irrelevant sentiment cloud their judgement?
Adebayo Alao Akala
 |
| Adebayo Alao Akala |
The former police man turned politician was governor
altogether for about 4yrs 11months. This is the longest anyone has been
governor in Oyo State. His tenure witnessed a lot of thuggery and violence in
the state but the people claim that despite all of that they enjoyed free flow of
cash in the economy and although the environment was dirty, and relatively
unsafe they enjoyed some sort of boom in their business. This cant really be explained in theoretical terms but according to the people of Oyo State that was the situation. Akala also did continue
some major road projects that were believed to have been initiated by Ladoja.
These projects would have been fantastic project but the quality of work done can’t
stand the test of time. Akala is said to be good man at heart but was believed to have
surrounded himself with a bunch of clueless and greedy political appointees, contractors
and friends.
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Alao Akala was also picked up in 2012 by the EFCC and
charged to court over a N11.5bn fraud case. He made a couple of appearance in
court with Hosea Agboola and Femi Babalola (Jogor) but EFCC and the court have
been silent about the case for a while now since the case has been
adjourned indefinitely since November 2013.
Akala seems to have a lot of loyal grassroot supporters; this is probably because he is what they call ‘buje bu da nu’ (spends lavishly). The question is are these supporters true to him and believe in him or are they just with him for his money? What really has he got to offer and how will he convince people he will be a better governor this time around? Will he benefit from the Stomach infrastructure phenomenon like Fayose did?
Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja
 |
| Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja |
An accomplished entrepreneur had his administration cut
short after he was impeached. Although he came back briefly, the State was in a
terrible shape that governance was almost impossible. It is believed that the few years he spent in
government; he was developing a master plan for Oyo State development. Ladoja
took good care of civil servant and teachers by promptly paying their salaries
but then the trade-off was to hold back on any major projects till much later.
The later never happened as he was impeached.
As at February 2014, the court of appeal in Lagos disallowed
an appeal by Ladoja to quash the criminal charges against him by EFCC. But
since this report contract-fraud-court-frees-bankole-orders-ladojas-trial
no new development about the case has been publish or in public domain.
Ladoja enjoyed a lot of sympathy votes from civil servants especially teachers in 2011 but that wasn't enough, infact his running for the election was a spoiler and worked to his other opponent’s advantage. Will he still get sympathy civil servants vote? Will he be able to run a very good campaign considering the fact that alot of his loyalist left him just a few days ago in anger? What will be his selling point since the current governor haven't done so back in term of development?
Ladoja enjoyed a lot of sympathy votes from civil servants especially teachers in 2011 but that wasn't enough, infact his running for the election was a spoiler and worked to his other opponent’s advantage. Will he still get sympathy civil servants vote? Will he be able to run a very good campaign considering the fact that alot of his loyalist left him just a few days ago in anger? What will be his selling point since the current governor haven't done so back in term of development?
Seyi Makinde
 |
| Seyi Makinde |
He is the youngest of all the 5 candidates and has never
held any political office. He is according to the bio on his page Seyi Makinde. An accomplished business man in the oil and gas sector. He is a force to reckon
with simply because he has in the last year ran a very intense campaign. He has
basically carved a niche for himself as a young and fresh alternative through his constant
presence in the media. He has also gone round the State to meet with people to
register his presence and intention even before the political tussle got heated
up .
The only mistake he made was that he did all of this under a party that could not conduct free and fair elections in the state
and also a party that is associated with violence and thuggery. He eventually
lost at the primaries to Teslim folarin. Although both Akala and Seyi claim
that no primaries was conducted and that the candidate that emerged was imposed
by the Oga at the top, Seyi has since
then moved to SDP.
People seem to know about Seyi Makinde but his ordeal with PDP and his move to SDP may change the perception of people about him. With a strong political party backing he would have been a preferred choice considering the fact he is young, he has ran a good campaign selling his candidacy and ideas and his little effort in empowering people.
People seem to know about Seyi Makinde but his ordeal with PDP and his move to SDP may change the perception of people about him. With a strong political party backing he would have been a preferred choice considering the fact he is young, he has ran a good campaign selling his candidacy and ideas and his little effort in empowering people.
Teslim Kolawole Folarin
 |
| Teslim Kolawole Folarin |
He was the senate leader 2007- 2011 as a 2nd term
senator. He emerged as the flag bearer from what his former party mate described
as mockery of justice. According to Seyi Makinde “How can this same party
(PDP) have a candidate who claims to have been elected with 167 votes which is
just about 10 per cent of the total number of delegates after the majority or
1,053 delegates were disenfranchised? I believe in the rule of law, decency and
discipline. Justice delayed is justice denied.’’.
Teslim’s 8 years as a senator including 4years as a majority
leader has not reflected positively in his district especially for someone with an
ambition to be governor. With such a position, it would have been nice to stay prominent in the society getting involved in
developmental projects and programs aswell as showing concern for lives, people
and property. Teslim basically stays mute when he should be most vocal on
issues an example is when Ibadan was hit with flood and so many people were
displaced. Law makers don’t have votes but they do have constituency
allowance and one of their major role is to make laws, facilitate development
of their constituency and state using their influence and access to the
governor and the president. The question in the lips of people in Ibadan is
that how much of their interest did Teslim Folarin look out for and will he if
elected be concerned about the wellbeing of people, infrastructural development
and economic growth?
Teslim was arrested and charged for murder of Eleweomo (a
former
Out of all the candidates, Teslim is the least popular. As a matter of fact alot of people did not know he was the Senate Leader till the incident with Eleweomo happened. Will he be able to convince people that he has what it takes to lead the State? Can he actually deliver or will he continue to remain the figure head type leader most people think he is?
Who Will Become the Next Oyo State Governor?
This election will definitely be a close one especially with
the number of strong candidates contesting. The candidates have their strength
and weakness as highlighted above but as it stands one can’t really say for sure who will emerge or
who most people in the State will vote for.
The intensity of the campaign, messaging and the ability of the
candidates to sell themselves to the people of Oyo State will be the
determining factor of who wins Feb 2015. Their performance, failures, court
cases, allegations and CV’s will only matter to a few and especially the elite
voters. The other voters who form majority will judge them by what happens in
the next couple of weeks, some communities like Sabo, Akinyele, Shasha, Oyo
town, Saki etc with strong influence from their leaders will naturally go the
way their leaders dictate so it’s up to the candidates that can woo them the
most.
Another factor to consider is how the ‘Ibadan’ factor will
play out considering that 4 out of the 5 major candidates are from Ibadan.
Although, Ibadan has a huge population of settlers from other parts of Oyo
state and even outside Oyo, it will be interesting if they come out to vote this
time around and to see who they vote for.
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