Political parties and major political gladiators in Oyo State have begun alignments and consultations ahead of the March 11, 2023, gubernatorial election.
DAILY POST reports that the struggle is coming few days after the conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections.
Six out of the eighteen registered political parties in the state have been laying claim to victory.
The political parties include the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC) Accord, Labour Party, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Be that as it may, the results as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, showed the difference between the contenders and the pretenders.
The APC has the upper hand, followed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and then the Labour Party.
The candidates of the All Progressives Congress APC, won in eight (8) federal constituencies out of the twelve federal constituencies where elections were concluded.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, won in four federal constituencies in the state.
The results of the remaining two federal constituencies have not been announced as of the time of filing this report on Friday.
Elections in two federal constituencies: Oluyole federal constituency and Ibadan North East/Ibadan South East federal constituency were declared inconclusive due to some abnormalities observed by the electoral body.
APC won in Ibadan North, Afijio/Atiba/Oyo East/Oyo West, Ido/Ibarapa East, Saki East/Saki West/Atisbo, Ogbomoso North/ Ogbomoso South/ Oriire, Egbada/Ona Ara, Akinyele/Lagelu and Irepo, Olorunsogo/ Oorelope.
The four federal constituencies won by the PDP included Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola/ Iwajowa, Ogooluwa/Surulere, Ibarapa Central, Ibarapa North and Ibadan North West/ Ibadan South West.
APC also won the three senatorial seats in the state: Oyo South, Oyo North and Oyo Central.
In the presidential election held on Saturday, the presidential candidate of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu scored a total of 449,884 to defeat candidates of all other political parties in the state.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku scored a total of 182,977.
The Labour Party candidate, Mr. Peter Obi scored a total of 99,110.
The result as announced also shown that ADP scored 2,298, APGA got 1,368, APP scored 1,985, NNPP scored 4,095, Accord scored 39,514,
SDP got 14,517, while ZLP got 2,707.
Findings by DAILY POST since Saturday revealed that the presidential and National Assembly election results have changed the political calculation in the state.
While it was obvious that six political parties were in the race prior to the election, it has been observed that only three political parties are in the race ahead of the gubernatorial election at the moment.
The three dominant political parties are the ruling PDP which has governor Seyi Makinde as its candidate, the APC which produced Senator Teslim Folarin and Accord which filled Chief Adebayo Adelabu.
The three political parties have been scheming and have begun alignments among different political parties that lost in the election.
Our correspondent learnt that consultations are currently going on in various geo-political zones, towns and villages over who to support in the gubernatorial election.
DAILY POST investigation revealed that since Saturday, the PDP which produced the current governor as its candidate for the election has been going to different locations with a promise to consolidate on its achievements.
The state governor and his political party, the PDP is basing its campaign on what it described as landmark achievements in the areas of education, health, transportation, agriculture, housing, employment and urban renewal.
But, the opposition parties, the APC and Accord on their own said that there is a need for change.
The two parties and their candidates in a bid to occupy the government house have been running after candidates of other political parties that lost in last Saturday’s election in a bid to either form an alliance or merger.
DAILY POST investigation revealed that since Saturday, the candidate of APC, Teslim Folarin has been going around in order to meet the candidates of SDP so as to work for him.
Folarin has visited the senatorial candidate of SDP in Oyo North, Hon. Mulikat Adeola-Akande. Folarin’s visit came a few hours after the result of the National Assembly election was released.
Folarin also was seen in a picture with the SDP Reps candidate in Ibadan North East/Ibadan South East, Hon. Deji Aboderin.
Followers of Oyo state politics are of the opinion that the SDP candidates who lost in the Saturday’s election are teaming up with Folarin ahead of the gubernatorial election.
Investigation also revealed that Adelabu on his own visited the leadership of five political parties in order to seek their support.
Sources within the NNPP said that some of the candidates of the party are likely to support the APC, while the rest are working to support the Accord candidate.
The labour party candidates seem to be neutral as no one can say who the candidates of the party are supporting.