Agitations for the zoning of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Gubernatorial Ticket in 2026 to Osun West Senatorial District continue to gain traction, as party stalwarts and stakeholders align with the agitation, citing fairness and equity.
If an agitation premised on fairness will indeed be fair, it must also satisfy other silent agitations that are yet to gain traction. This article will give voice to one of those silent agitations,to ensure complete equity.
I will first justify the Osun West agitation, to provide a premise for the other agitation that we all seem to be relegating.
From 1991 when Osun State was created, the State has had six (6) democratically elected Governors. These are, Alh. Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke, Chief Adebisi Akande, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Alh. Adegboyega Oyetola, and Sen. Ademola Adeleke.
If we, for the sake of this analysis, remove the names and replace with the Senatorial Districts that produced the Governors and the length of time they spent in office, the list will look like this: Osun West Senatorial District (2 years); Osun Central Senatorial District (4 years); Osun Central Senatorial District (7.5 years); Osun East Senatorial District (8 years); Osun Central Senatorial District (4 years); Osun West Senatorial District (4 years).
A summary of the paragraph above shows that Osun West Senatorial District has governed Osun State for 6 years, Osun East Senatorial District for 8 years, and Osun Central Senatorial District for a staggering 15 and a half years!
We do not need to further debate the unfairness in the statistics above as the imbalance is quite clear. However, there is something more unfair that the information above reflects, a disturbing trend that should not continue in a society that is heterogeneous like ours.
The first democratically elected Governor of Osun State, Alh. Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke was a Muslim. The next democratically elected Governor of the State, Chief Adebisi Akande, is a Muslim. The next Governor after him, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, is a Christian. His successor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is a Muslim. Alh. Gboyega Oyetola, who succeeded Aregbesola is also a Muslim. The incumbent Governor, Sen. Ademola Adeleke, was a Christian, but he somehow unearthed his Muslim identity when he was to become Governor; he is a Muslim too, going by this action.
The above exposition implies that Muslims have governed Osun for 22 years out of 29 years and a half! This injustice is worse than the question of the Senatorial Districts of these Governors.
In a heterogeneous State like Osun, both major religions should get equal shots at leadership, but this has sadly not been the case.
To further worsen the inequality, many of the promoters of the West Agenda in the APC are lining behind another Muslim, when there are Christian aspirants within the party, who are also from Osun West Senatorial District, and whose candidacy and eventual victory would improve the lot of the Christian community in the State.
The next Governor of Osun should be a full-fledged, practising Christian, unlike the Muslim-by-pretence-but-Christian-at-heart that Governor Adeleke is; he/she should come from Osun West Senatorial District, and be a refined personality with sharp leadership acumen that will give Osun the direction and image that it currently lacks.
“He who comes to equity must come with clean hands”, so we must not satisfy the Osun West agitation without satisfying the Christian agitation. Both must proceed side by side.
God bless Osun State.
‘Tunde Aderin writes from Apomu, Isokan Local Government.
