Opposition parties ‘gone missing’ in Oyo?

In recent times, the opposition parties have become docile in Oyo state, making the terrain a walk over for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in almost everything. Our correspondent looks at how former governors, ex-senators and other chieftains

party has not been able to put its house together after the crisis that almost consumed it during the 2015 primary elections.

The gubernatorial flag bearer of the party in 2015 and a former Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, has distanced himself from the state since he lost election in 2015. Little has been heard of him in the party and expectedly, the development has made people to doubt if the former Senator leader is still interested in the future of the party.

At the moment, most of his loyalists during the 2015 elections are dining and wining with the ruling APC in the state.

In retrospect, aside the crisis at the national level of the party, the crisis in Oyo PDP could be traced back to 2011 when other factions in the party worked against the interest of its candidate.

While PDP chieftains pretended to have supported Alao-Akala, sources said they actually secretly supported candidates of other parties.

Presently Engineer Seyi Makinde is the leader of the SDP in Oyo State. He defected to the party in build up to 2015 election when he could not clinch PDP ticket.

Sources said he is consulting ahead of 2019. A feeler from his camp confided in our correspondent that he recently had a meeting with his former PDP in Ogbomosho.

The meeting, according to the source, which was held in Ogbomoso and Oke-Ogun area of the state, had in attendance the immediate Senate Chief Whip, Senator Hosea Agboola, former leader of the House of Representatives, Mulika Adeola Akande and other notable PDP leaders in the state.

This came in the wakes of several claims by Makinde that he will remain in SDP.

With unfolding events in almost all the opposition parties in Oyo State, analysts are of the opinion that it will be very difficult for them to galvanize forces, showcase a formidable candidate and seize power from the ruling APC in 2019.

However, though the APC has many issues to contend with at the centre, it is not clear if this will affect its fortune in the South West in particular and in Oyo State in particular. It is only time will tell but politicking is gradually taking its roots.