Ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial poll in Osun State, a group, identified as Osun West Solidarity Forum (OWSF), yesterday, urged the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairmain, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, and the National Working Committee (NWC) to zone the party’s governorship ticket to Osun West Senatorial District.
It said the clamour was in the spirit of justice and fairness should the incumbent Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, refused to join the race.
Addressing a press conference in Osogbo, spokesperson for the group, Taiwo Adejumo, noted that since the advent of democracy in 1999, the senatorial district had not produced a governor.
He said: “Before we delve into the issue at hand, we want to make it abundantly clear that we recognise the primacy the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, holds in our party today, and we appreciate his support over the years, particularly since APC left the governance of Osun in November 2022.
“We also admit that the minister and former governor has privilege of right of first refusal. What this means is that having done a term as a state governor, he has the inclusive right to seek for the second term as defined by law. Therefore, whatever demand or advocacy we make here today presupposes that it has to do with the decision of the former Governor Oyetola to run or not to run in 2026.
“Since 1999 when this democracy started in Osun State, the progressive party has governed for four terms of 16 years. Of all these 16 years, Osun West Senatorial District, which has the largest local government area by population, has not earned a day to govern the state.
Adejumo explained that if the call for a political shift to Osun West in 2026 has reached its crescendo now, “it is sensible, fair and just. It is not aberrant, neither is it strange. It is a call for fairness and equity.”
He recalled that “in the 2022 elections, for instance, APC polled 17,421 votes in Iwo LGA as against PDP’s 16,914 votes. In Irewole, APC clinched 18,189, while PDP clinched 14,216. In Olaoluwa, APC also got 9,123 votes as against PDP’s 7,205 votes, just as it got in Ayedaade 14,527 votes as against PDP’s 13,380. APC also defeated PDP in Isokan and Ayedire local government areas.
