Former Senate Leader and Oyo State Coordinator of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign, Senator Teslim Folarin, has warned members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State against allowing internal disagreements to destroy the party’s chances in the forthcoming general elections.
Folarin made the call in Ibadan on Tuesday while speaking with journalists after meeting with APC stakeholders at the party’s state secretariat. The meeting was part of his formal engagement with the state party leadership following his appointment as coordinator of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope 2.0 campaign in Oyo State.
According to Folarin, the party must put aside personal grievances and work collectively for the success of all its candidates.
“I have come to formally intimate the party that the President has graciously appointed me as his coordinator for the 2027 election. You can’t do anything without the party, so I thought it would make sense for us to come down to meet them and rub minds,” he said.
Folarin specifically expressed confidence that aggrieved stakeholders, including former Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu and other party leaders, would eventually close ranks and support the APC’s candidates.
“There is nothing wrong in being aggrieved, but at the end of the day, you have to look at the big picture, which is the party,” he said.
His comments come against the backdrop of the APC’s efforts to consolidate its structure ahead of the 2027 elections. Senator Sharafadeen Alli has already emerged as the party’s governorship candidate after receiving significant backing from party leaders. The APC subsequently unveiled Alli and other candidates for the governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly elections.
Folarin maintained that party members who disagreed with the process through which candidates emerged must nevertheless recognise the reality of the situation and work for the party.
“You don’t have to like everybody. You may have issues with the process, but at the end of the day, candidates have emerged,” he said.
He recalled that he had experienced a similar situation when he emerged as a candidate, arguing that disagreements over party processes were part of the political game.
“If we don’t come together, we are all risking political oblivion, and we don’t want to retire now,” Folarin added.
The Political Question Hanging Over Oyo APC
Folarin’s warning, however, has generated a broader political question among observers of the Oyo APC: what happens to the ambitions of the party’s other major political figures if Senator Sharafadeen Alli wins the governorship in 2027?
One prominent reaction circulating online asks whether figures such as Folarin and Adelabu could face an even greater political challenge if Alli becomes governor and subsequently controls the state’s party structure.
The argument is that an APC governor could potentially become the dominant political authority within the state for two consecutive terms, influencing party structures, appointments, nominations and succession politics. Under that scenario, critics argue, aspirants who currently harbour governorship ambitions could find themselves politically disadvantaged for years.
That interpretation, however, remains political commentary rather than an established outcome. Alli himself has repeatedly called for reconciliation and has described former aspirants as brothers and stakeholders in the party’s collective struggle. At his September unveiling, he urged those who contested the governorship ticket against him to work together for the party’s victory.
Folarin’s Message Goes Beyond Oyo
Folarin also outlined the APC’s broader strategy for the 2027 presidential campaign, saying the party would highlight the achievements of the Tinubu administration as a major component of its campaign.
“We are going to use Mr President’s achievements to drive this campaign,” he said.
He further disclosed plans to reach out to political parties without presidential candidates, as well as parties whose presidential candidates have limited electoral strength, in an effort to build a wider coalition of support for Tinubu.
For the Oyo APC, therefore, the challenge is now twofold: winning back political power in the state while simultaneously managing the ambitions, grievances and competing interests of influential party leaders.
With the 2027 election approaching, Folarin’s “political oblivion” warning may ultimately prove to be as much about the individual political futures of APC stakeholders as it is about the survival and electoral fortunes of the party itself.
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