ADC crisis deepens as Alagbe, Adegoke lay claim to Oyo gov ticket

By Adeola Badru The lingering crisis within the African Democratic Congress (ADC) over its leadership and governorship candidacy in Oyo State has deepened, with Dr Gbemileke Alagbe insisting that he remains the legitimate candidate of the party ahead of the 2027 election. Alagbe’s position came on Tuesday after another ADC governorship candidate, Taofeeq Adegoke, publicly unveiled his campaign structure and outlined an ambitious agenda to fight poverty and insecurity, promising an issue-based grassroots campaign ahead of the February 6, 2027 governorship election. While Adegoke has been presenting his policy agenda and building his campaign organisation, Alagbe, in an interview, challenged the legitimacy of rival claims to the ADC governorship ticket, insisting that he emerged from a valid primary monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies. He said the May 22, 2026 governorship primary was properly conducted and that he emerged winner among the five aspirants who participated in the exercise. “Those making such claims are either not members of our party or have been sponsored from outside to cause division within the party. “The ADC governorship primary was conducted on May 22, 2026. The primary was monitored by INEC and all the relevant security agencies. We have reports to that effect, and the citizens of Oyo State can also verify what happened. “I emerged as the winner of the primary from among the five aspirants who contested. I was declared the winner, and I have the certificate of return to prove it,“ he said. Alagbe maintained that the emergence of competing claims over the ADC ticket was not a substitute for the formal legal process of challenging an election result, arguing that anyone disputing his victory should produce evidence or seek judicial intervention. “I do not see what they are doing as a challenge to my victory. If they were genuinely challenging my victory, they would have gone to court or taken steps to invalidate the result and the report of the primary. “What some of them are doing is using the media to portray themselves as candidates or trying to influence the party structure and hierarchy so that they can find their way onto the INEC list. “But that is not how candidacy is determined. In any election, a candidate must emerge through a valid primary and obtain the necessary documents, especially the certificate of return,“ Alagbe said. He said the dispute was part of a wider crisis affecting the ADC across the South-West, adding that similar divisions were being witnessed in other states, including Lagos. According to him, he had made several attempts to get the relevant party leadership to reconcile the different tendencies within the Oyo State chapter, but claimed that the efforts were unsuccessful. “When I noticed the division, I approached the relevant leadership about five times to see how we could bring the different structures together. Unfortunately, for whatever interests or reasons, there was no willingness to settle the matter peacefully. Instead, there has been a preference for litigation,” he said. “That is why you see factionalisation within the party at the national and state levels, with some of these matters already going through the courts,” he said. Alagbe insisted that the national leadership of the ADC could not simply determine the party’s governorship candidate, arguing that the law and the outcome of a valid primary should prevail. “The national leadership does not determine who the candidate is. The law determines that. The law provides for the conduct of primaries, the monitoring of the exercise and the declaration of results. I participated in the valid primary, I won it, and INEC monitored the process,” he said. He nevertheless acknowledged that the continued division could hurt the party’s electoral prospects, warning that it could affect its performance in several states and potentially undermine its presidential bid if not resolved. “If you ask for my opinion, the divisions could affect the party in many states. It could even affect the presidential candidate if the party is not united,” he said. Alagbe, however, expressed confidence that the crisis would have less impact on the ADC’s chances in Oyo State, arguing that local political dynamics and the agitation for power rotation would be more decisive. “For instance, I am the only governorship candidate from outside Ibadan among the major candidates. There has been a clamour for power to rotate to Oke-Ogun, and I belong to the G22 movement advocating power rotation,” he said. “Largely, I believe that will determine the governorship election in Oyo State, rather than what is happening within the party at the national level.” He called for unity among the different tendencies within the party, sayin

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