Dimeji Obisesan, a Senior Special Assistant on political matters to late former Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi says the outcome of the 2023 Governorship election in the Pace Setter State will shock many people.
He cautioned members of the ruling party and supporters of Governor Seyi Makinde to drop their vain glory and come to reality of the peculiar nature of Oyo politics.
He spoke on Sunday while fielding questions from Aanuoluwapo Omorinde on BOTTOM LINE – a political programme on IBR 92.5fm Ibadan.
When reminded of the acclaimed popularity of Governor Seyi Makinde, Obisesan noted that popular candidates do not win governorship election in Oyo State.
Justifying his claim, the former political aide went down the memory lane “In 1999, Chief Yekini Adeojo was very popular and late Lam Adesina was just a retired principal.Eventually, Lam won the election.
“In 2019, was Engineer Seyi Makinde popular? No! Who won?”.
Speaking further, he said Oyo is such a peculiar State. In his words, “you get to know who will govern Oyo State five weeks to any governorship election”.
According to him, winning election in Oyo State is not about performance but the perception of the electorates. “Who would have thought that the late former governor will lose the Oyo South Senatorial election in 2019. Our Candidate won in Ibadan North and yet, the former Governor lost.
“There are two local governments you must capture to win Oyo South Senatorial District election. Oyo North and one other but let me focus on Oyo North where I am from. In 2019, APC Candidate won the Ibadan North federal constituency which has the highest voting population but Ajimobi lost his Senatorial bid”.
When pressed to name the other federal constituency that is strategic in winning Oyo South Senatorial election apart from Ibadan North, he simply said “let the politicians go and do their home work”.
Predicting the chances of the major political parties in 2023, Obisesan described Accord Party as the main opposition party in the State saying the All progressives Congress has been disclosed from that position.
He named three groups as the major determinants of the outcome of any given election.
According to him, they are the Civil Servants, religious body and the Traders.
