One thing I have found particularly amusing in the ongoing Oyo State APC brouhaha is Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin.
Whatever one may think about the way the man has played his politics—and let me be clear, I am not necessarily a fan of that style—there is something about his diction that I genuinely admire. Whenever he speaks, I listen. The man has a way with words.
But let us go back a little.
In 2022, Folarin emerged as the APC’s governorship candidate after defeating Adebayo Adelabu and other aspirants at the party’s primary. He polled 954 votes against Adelabu’s 327. Adelabu subsequently left APC and joined Accord to pursue his governorship ambition.
At the time, some of us were watching the political temperature in Oyo and concluded that neither APC nor Accord was likely to defeat the incumbent, Seyi Makinde.
It was not prophecy. Politics is sometimes simply about reading the room.
And in 2023, Makinde proved just how formidable his political machine had become. He won the governorship election with 563,756 votes, while Folarin came second with 256,685 and Adelabu, then of Accord, finished third.
I was on ground. I saw it. I felt it.
Makinde had incumbency, structure and a level of political acceptance that made the election extremely difficult for his challengers.
But what happened afterwards is where the story becomes particularly interesting.
Adelabu was appointed Minister of Power by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in August 2023. The Federal Ministry of Power officially confirmed that he assumed office on August 21, 2023.
Folarin, meanwhile, appeared to lick his wounds without burning the bridge.
He did not turn himself into an opposition figure against the Federal Government. He remained within the APC political ecosystem.
And today, that patience has become politically significant.
Folarin is the Oyo State Ambassador of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors and has been actively mobilising for President Tinubu and the APC ahead of 2027. In February 2026, he charged newly inaugurated coordinators across the state to mobilise voters for Tinubu’s re-election and APC candidates, with an ambitious target of improving the party’s 2023 presidential performance in Oyo by at least 35 per cent.
That, to me, is a very important political lesson.
Sometimes, you lose a battle without losing your political relevance.
You lose an election without destroying your political future.
You are defeated, but you do not make yourself impossible to reconcile with.
Now we come to the current APC situation.
Folarin did not contest the 2026 governorship primary. Perhaps he has counted his losses. Perhaps he understands that politics is not about forcing yourself into every contest. Perhaps he is simply waiting for another opening.
But Folarin has history with Senator Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli.
Alli eventually became APC’s Oyo South senatorial candidate in 2022 after a controversial primary process, and Folarin and Alli were publicly seen together as senior APC figures during the 2023 campaign.
Now the irony is difficult to ignore.
Folarin is not the candidate this time.
Alli is.
In May 2026, APC leaders in Oyo publicly endorsed Alli as their consensus governorship candidate after consultations that, according to party stakeholders, included discussions with President Tinubu.
So, I am not saying Folarin must suddenly become Alli’s biggest fan.
Politics is not friendship.
Politics is not sentimental attachment.
Politics is interest.
Politics is strategy.
Politics is positioning.
But I recently heard Folarin describe himself as a party man, and that is where I begin to scratch my head.
Because sometimes, what you say you are and what your political actions communicate can be two different things.
I know I am not a know-it-all.
Heck, I can only wish to be in Folarin’s position today. I do not have his capacity, experience or decades of political exposure.
I am not pretending to know more than him.
But I am outside.
And sometimes, the person standing outside the room can see the direction everyone inside the room is moving.
You do not have to be the player to read the game.
From where I am standing, I do not think Folarin is playing this Oyo APC situation as strategically as he could.
If you genuinely want to work for President Tinubu and APC, then work for APC completely.
Be a rallying point.
The party has produced a candidate.
Support him.
Promote him.
Call the different factions.
Speak to those who are angry.
Talk to those who feel cheated.
Reach out to those who wanted the ticket.
Speak to those who do not like Alli.
Use your experience to manage the differences.
That is leadership.
And APC desperately needs that kind of leadership if it intends to challenge Makinde’s political dominance in 2027.
Interestingly, the reconciliation process has already started. Reports in 2026 showed that aggrieved APC governorship aspirants were being brought closer to Alli in an effort to strengthen the party ahead of the election.
Folarin has the experience to take that process even further.
He understands Ibadan politics.
He understands Oyo politics.
He understands the Southwest.
He knows the personalities.
He knows the factions.
He has been inside the room.
Some of us are still outside looking through the window.
So use that experience.
Be the bridge.
Be the rallying point.
Bring the house together.
Let people say, “When there is a problem in Oyo APC, call Tessy.”
That is political capital.
Because the real question today is no longer simply who got the governorship ticket.
The bigger question is: Who will still matter after the 2027 election?
If Folarin is positioning himself for the larger political game of 2027 and beyond, this is actually the perfect moment to demonstrate it.
He does not need to contest anything.
He does not need to be the candidate.
He does not even need to take the glory.
He needs to become indispensable to the process.
If APC eventually wins, he helped build the victory.
If APC loses, he can still stand before history and say, I did my part.
But standing somewhere in between—neither fully opposing nor fully mobilising—could mean missing a rare opportunity to redefine his political identity.
And that identity matters.
Does Folarin want to be remembered merely as a former senator, former Senate Leader and former governorship candidate who lost a few political battles?
Or does he want to become the elder political figure who, at a critical moment, rose above personal interests and helped hold his party together?
That second identity is a much bigger political asset.
This is why the Sharafadeen Alli situation is fascinating.
The political relationship between the two men has passed through different stages, and Alli has now moved from being a senatorial candidate to becoming APC’s governorship standard-bearer.
Politics!
You cannot write some of these things.
Today, somebody may be the person you helped politically.
Tomorrow, that same person may become the candidate around whom everybody expects you to rally.
And when that happens, you have a choice.
You can say, “This is not my candidate.”
Or you can say, “This is my party’s candidate. Let me help build the party.”
For somebody thinking beyond one election, I believe the second option is wiser.
You do not have to love Alli.
You do not have to agree with every decision that produced him.
You do not even have to forget the disagreements that brought the party to this point.
But if you say you are a party man, there comes a moment when the party must become bigger than your personal calculations.
That is where Folarin has an opportunity.
He has the network.
He has the history.
He has the experience.
He understands the terrain.
So, be the bridge.
Be the rallying point.
Bring the house together.
Let younger politicians see what political maturity looks like.
And if APC wins, Folarin will have helped build the victory.
If APC loses, he can still say he gave everything to the party.
But if he remains somewhere in the middle, he may lose something more valuable than an election: the opportunity to define what Teslim Folarin represents in Oyo politics after 2027.
Sometimes, the best way to win the future is to behave selflessly in the present.
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