Adekunle Adesuji writes that individual competence and not religious sentiment should be a determining factor in choosing who succeeds Governor Seyi Makinde in Oyo State come 2027.
As political conversations gradually shift towards the 2027 governorship election in Oyo State, familiar arguments have once again resurfaced. Chief among such issues of contention is the subtle, but persistent attempt to frame succession through the prism of religion. While such narratives may excite sectional sentiments, they collapse under the weight of history, electoral behaviour, and the enduring political culture of the state.
Across Ibadan, Oke-Ogun, Ogbomosho, Oyo, and Ibarapa zones, the evidence remains consistent: political power in Oyo has never been negotiated based on faith or ethnicity alone. Rather, it has been earned through competence, integrity, organisation, structure, and sustained public trust built over time. This has been the trend since the birth of the Fourth Republic in May, 1999.