President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday met with former Senate Leader and 2023 Oyo State APC governorship candidate, Teslim Folarin, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, in what is widely seen as a move to strengthen unity within the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 Oyo State governorship election.
According to a source close to Folarin, the meeting formed part of ongoing efforts by the President and the APC leadership to rally key stakeholders behind the party’s governorship candidate, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, and resolve lingering differences within the Oyo State chapter of the party.
Folarin, who represented Oyo Central Senatorial District in the Senate, was the APC governorship candidate in the 2023 election but lost to Governor Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). His ambition to contest the 2027 governorship election ended after he opted out of the party’s primary that produced Alli as the APC flag bearer.
Tinubu’s meeting with Folarin comes amid renewed efforts to consolidate support for Alli, whose emergence followed a keenly contested race involving several prominent APC leaders, including former Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu.
On July 2, Alli was officially presented as the APC governorship candidate alongside his running mate, Hon. Adesoji Adedeji, during a ceremony in Ibadan. His candidacy followed consultations and endorsements by APC leaders and stakeholders in Oyo State, who adopted him as the party’s consensus candidate in a process they said received the backing of President Tinubu.
Despite the endorsement, the selection process generated controversy. Adelabu, who resigned as Minister of Power to participate in the governorship race, maintained that the APC had not officially announced the outcome of the primary election.
He urged party members to disregard what he described as premature claims of a consensus arrangement, insisting that only the APC national leadership had the authority to formally declare the winner.
Alli was eventually reported to have emerged victorious ahead of other aspirants, including Adelabu, former Deputy Governor Rauf Olaniyan, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, Akeem Agbaje, and Oyedele Alao.