Tinubu, APC And The Long Game That Obi Has Refused To Play

In 2007 when the quest to expand the ACN controlled states beyond Lagos State began in the Southwest, Asiwaju sent Rauf Aregbesola to Osun to contest as governor. His campaign was one of the most sophisticated I have ever seen with well defined strategies put in place across board. It was obvious that the PDP era was over in the state.

Fast forward to the elections, Oyinlola and PDP rigged ruthlessly even though it was done without any iota of smartness; they were going to remain in power for the next four years but Asiwaju never gave up.

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For three good years, Asiwaju made sure Aregbesola did not relent in his quest to regain his “stolen mandate”.

Forensic experts were brought in from outside the country to examine all the ballot papers and with sound lawyers who had already filed a 1004-page petition against the incumbent governor representing them in court, it was obvious the Jagaban would exhaust all possible avenues before giving up.

Less than 6 months into the final four years of Oyinlola and the PDP, the court finally ruled in favor of the ACN and declared Aregbesola the governor of Osun State.

The move sent waves across the country as the dominance of the PDP started getting cracked by the emerging ACN. It was imperfect but the level of governance within the first four years was used as an example of what could happen with APC in charge across many other states during 2011 general elections.

ACN started winning more states and that was the beginning of their relevance till date.

The bye-elections in Edo earlier this year and that of Ondo yesterday where Labour Party had less than 2000 votes has reaffirmed one fact that we all know: Peter Obi does not have the leadership skills to take any party to the promised land.

Alas, it is a futile journey that has peaked in 2023.