President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday met with former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, in an apparent move to rally the former Oyo State governorship candidate behind the All Progressives Congress’ 2027 candidate, Sharafadeen Alli.

The Tuesday meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, according to a source closer to Folarin, is believed to be part of efforts to unite the party’s major stakeholders and resolve lingering differences within the Oyo APC ahead of the February 2027 governorship election.

Folarin, who represented Oyo Central Senatorial District in the Senate, was the APC governorship candidate in the 2023 election, in which he lost to the incumbent, Governor Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The choice of Alli by the party hierarchy stopped Folarin’s ambition for 2027 as he did not participate in the primaries leading to the emergence of the governorship candidate.

His meeting with Tinubu came amid efforts by the President and the APC leadership to consolidate support for Alli, who emerged as the party’s candidate after a contentious process that initially pitted him against several prominent aspirants, including former Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu.

Alli was eventually presented as the party’s candidate alongside his running mate, Adesoji Adedeji, at a ceremony in Ibadan on July 2.

His emergence followed an endorsement by APC leaders and stakeholders in the state, who adopted him as their consensus candidate after consultations which they said were backed by the President.

However, the process was not without controversy, as Adelabu, who resigned as Minister of Power to contest the primaries, insisted that the party had yet to make an official pronouncement on the outcome of the exercise.

Adelabu had urged party members to remain calm and reject what he described as premature claims about a consensus arrangement, insisting that the national leadership should formally declare the winner of the primary.

Alli was reported to have defeated Adelabu and other aspirants, including former Deputy Governor Rauf Olaniyan, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, Akeem Agbaje and Oyedele Alao.

A group of aggrieved aspirants, known as G5, also kicked against Alli’s emergence and demanded that the party address the matter.

The APC’s decision to proceed with Alli’s candidacy caused divisions within the party, with some members expressing grievances over the process of his emergence and calling for reconciliation ahead of the election.

The party leadership has since urged aggrieved members to close ranks, warning that internal divisions could undermine its efforts to wrest power from the PDP, which has governed Oyo State since 2019.

The source, who preferred anonymity, told The PUNCH on Tuesday evening that the President’s move to draw Folarin into Alli’s campaign is an important step in the APC’s reconciliation efforts, given his influence within the party and his experience as the party’s flag bearer in the last governorship election.

Folarin had also been among the prominent APC figures whose support would be crucial to the party’s effort to present a united front in the 2027 contest.

The source said the President promised Folarin that his men would be included in the scheme of things in the power calculation at the state and federal levels.

The PUNCH gathered that Folarin is expected to meet with and address his supporters on the new development after his meeting with Tinubu.

The APC is seeking to regain control of Oyo State in 2027 after losing the governorship to Makinde in 2019 and failing to unseat him in 2023.

Alli’s candidacy followed months of consultations among party leaders, with supporters presenting him as a candidate capable of uniting the party and broadening its appeal across the state’s political divides.

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The Imole Campaign Council, the group leading the re-election campaign of Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to avoid the lapses witnessed during some recently conducted off-cycle elections.

Addressing journalists in Osogbo on Monday, the Director-General of the campaign council, Lere Oyewumi, alleged that during off-cycle and by-elections in Ogun, Oyo, Jigawa and Ekiti states, individuals suspected to be mercenary voters were issued Permanent Voter Cards shortly before voting.

Oyewumi, who also raised concerns over the deployment of insufficient ballot papers and other sensitive materials, alleged that already thumb-printed ballot papers were distributed during the 2026 Ekiti State governorship election.

He said the off-cycle election in Ekiti and the FCT Area Council elections were also marred by technical challenges associated with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System.

The lawmaker further alleged that during the recent elections in Anambra, Ekiti and the FCT, political parties that did not field candidates in the polls appeared on both ballot papers and result sheets used for the elections.

Highlighting other concerns identified by the council ahead of the Osun governorship election, Oyewumi said, “We have been inundated with boastful statements reportedly made by some Osun APC leaders about preloading BVAS machines ahead of the governorship election in the state.

“This claim, if true, strikes at the heart of electronic accreditation and suggests a predetermined outcome rather than the genuine will of the people.

“We have been notified about the commencement of the distribution of new PVCs by INEC. However, we have serious concerns about the transparency of the process, and we hereby warn that any move to disenfranchise Osun voters by withholding their PVCs will not be tolerated.

“We categorically demand that this distribution must be transparent and should not allow collection by proxy.”

Insisting that the issues raised by the council should be addressed, Oyewumi said the concerns were not aimed at undermining confidence in INEC but at strengthening the electoral process through constructive engagement.

He added, “The Osun governorship election presents another important opportunity for Nigeria to demonstrate that democratic institutions can continue to improve and inspire public confidence.

“The people of Osun are peaceful, politically conscious and deeply committed to democracy.

“They expect nothing short of a free, fair, transparent and credible election that faithfully reflects the wishes of the electorate.

“We, therefore, call on INEC to treat these observations with the seriousness they deserve and implement all necessary corrective measures before August 15.”

The PUNCH reports that voters in Osun State will go to the polls on Saturday, August 15, to elect a governor.

Fourteen political parties are fielding candidates in the election.

The incumbent governor, Adeleke, vying on the Accord ticket, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress and Dr Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress are the three leading candidates in the election.

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The vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso, has confirmed that the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, signed a written agreement with him to serve only a single tenure of four years and allow power to return to the North if elected president in 2027.

Kwankwaso disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television on Monday, saying the agreement was aimed at ensuring power returns to the North after a single four-year tenure in line with the party’s power-sharing arrangement.

The former Kano State governor said he had no reason to doubt Obi’s commitment to honouring the agreement.

“Oh yes, I personally believe him. I don’t think, based on what I now know about him, that he will change his mind when the time comes. We are all gentlemen,” he said.

Asked whether the understanding had been documented, Kwankwaso replied that both the party and the two candidates signed separate agreements.

“We have done one for the party, and we have done another one between the two of us,” he said.

Explaining the substance of the agreement, Kwankwaso said it provides for a single four-year tenure for Obi before the presidency returns to the North.

“The agreement is what you said, that for four years, we will work together, team together as a group, party, friends and brothers so that after his term of four years (2027-2031), it comes back to the North. That is the general agreement.”

He said he accepted the vice-presidential slot because both leaders agreed that the South should retain the presidency for only one term before power rotates back to the North.

“Together we felt that the presidency should go to the South for four years; thereafter it will come back to the North.

“We believe that should be the consensus of everybody in this country so that we can move together as a family, both North and South,” he said.

On whether he intends to contest the presidency in 2031, Kwankwaso said the party remained focused on winning the 2027 election while keeping its long-term political plans in view.

“We have a short-term plan which we are executing now and, of course, we also have our medium and long-term plans for the country, and that is what we are working on now,” he said.

Obi had in May announced that he would serve only one term if elected president, saying the decision was intended to promote political stability and strengthen national unity.

“I want to be a one-term president because of stability. I would not stay a day, with a gun to my head, longer than four years,” Obi had said.

The NDC has consistently defended its power-sharing arrangement, presenting the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket as a consensus aimed at balancing the country’s regional interests ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

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