Adelabu: Nightmare for PDP

By: Gani K. Balogun

AS the countdown to the 2027 general election accelerates, political temperatures in Oyo State are rising with remarkable enthusiasm. Alignments are quietly taking shape, strategic calculators are working overtime, and political actors are rehearsing their best “confidence speeches” in private. At the heart of these manoeuvres lies the possible emergence of Adebayo Adelabu as the governorship flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC). For the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), this is not merely another electoral contest—it is a scenario that consistently induces visible discomfort. One cannot forget the dramatic lamentations from the PDP camp barely a year ago, when rumours suggested that Abuja might be leaning towards Adelabu. These whispers were quickly branded “imposition,” accompanied by emotional press statements and social media outrage. Curiously, in politics, one would expect opponents to celebrate the emergence of a “supposedly weak” rival. But in this case, the PDP’s reaction suggested otherwise. Apparently, Adelabu is not the kind of candidate one casually looks forward to contesting against.

More recently, another rumour surfaced—that Adelabu had been “dropped” for another aspirant. The jubilation from PDP circles was swift and spectacular, as though a major trophy had been won without playing the match, just as they did before the 2023 general election when Adelabu was schemed out of the contest for APC ticket. That celebration, perhaps unintentionally, confirmed one thing: the fear is real, persistent, and deeply rooted. Since 2019, the PDP has governed Oyo State under Seyi Makinde. While incumbency offers advantages, Oyo’s political history shows that power is rarely sustained by incumbency alone. Personality, structure, legacy, and coalition-building still matter. The 2019 election remains instructive. Adelabu, then APC candidate, lost by about 100,000 votes despite facing a formidable coalition that included the current revered Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, Sarafadeen Alli, Femi Lanlehin, Hosea Agboola (Halleluyah), and Governor Seyi Makinde himself.

This was at a time when the APC was severely fractured, weakened by internal disputes and defections by the Unity faction of the party to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and some to the PDP after the party congress and guber primaries. Yet, despite these structural handicaps and open anti-party activities, Adelabu remained competitive across major voting blocs. Many observers interpreted the margin of defeat not as weakness, but as evidence of political resilience. By 2023, Adelabu was widely perceived as the candidate to beat. Political tension around his ambition was unmistakable. As expected in competitive politics, intense scheming followed. When he was schemed out of the party and eventually found accommodation in the Accord Party, PDP leaders quietly exhaled in relief. But the relief proved temporary.

Today, the political tide is shifting again. Several allies of the governor, including Hosea Agboola and Raphael Afonja, have migrated to the APC. Meanwhile, the once-divided party is now largely united, focused, and strategically aligned—no longer the fragmented structure of 2019. . Beyond politics, Adelabu’s résumé distinguishes him in a field often dominated by career politicians. A first-class graduate, a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and an Associate of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria and the UK. This is in addition to his executive education exposure at world class business schools, including Harvard, Stanford, Warton, Kellogs (all in the USA) and the University of London Business School and the Euromoney Executive Education (both in the UK).

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He rose through World class accounting and consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a Universal Multi-National Financial Conglomerate, Standard Chartered Bank and later held executive responsibilities as Executive Director, Group Chief Financial Officer and Board member at Nigeria’s largest Bank, First Bank of Nigeria. His appointment as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2014 under Goodluck Jonathan reflected national confidence in his technocratic capacity supretending over Financial Systems Stability, Corporate Sevices and Operations Directorates of the Apex Bank at different times. Adelabu also served as the Chairman, Board of Directors of the Nigeria InterBank Settlement Systems (NIBBS) and the board of Financial Institution Training Centre (FITC). He was also an active member of the Board of Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).

•Chief Balogun (GKB)m Osi Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, writes in from Ibadan.