By Maroof Asudemade
It is bad democratic practice for a governor who has spent eight years in office to attempt to determine, or heavily influence, who should succeed him. At the end of two terms, the people should be given the widest possible opportunity to assess the governor’s stewardship and independently choose the person they believe should take Oyo State forward.
This is why Governor Seyi Makinde’s apparent investment in the 2027 Allied Peoples Movement (APM) governorship ticket deserves serious scrutiny. The facts are revealing. APM adopted Bimbo Adekanmbi as its governorship candidate in May 2026, while Muftau Open Salawu was subsequently unveiled as his running mate. Both men have backgrounds in the APC administration of the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi. Adekanmbi served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Commissioner for Finance, while Salawu served as Special Adviser on Works.
Their choice is significant because the ticket is being presented not merely as an alternative political platform but explicitly as a vehicle for continuing Makinde’s administration. Adekanmbi himself has said he would consolidate Makinde’s achievements and sustain the “Omituntun” vision. That creates the central issue: why should an outgoing governor effectively seek to choose the person who will succeed him?
After eight years, Makinde’s administration should be subjected to an independent political audit. Voters should be asking what happened to the state’s revenues, expenditures, borrowing, infrastructure commitments, human-capital programmes and other promises made since 2019.
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This is particularly important because the financial scale of government has expanded considerably. For 2026, for example, Makinde presented a budget of about ₦891.99 billion, including approximately ₦502.85 billion in capital expenditure. His administration says its revenue mobilisation and expenditure management have improved substantially. The governor’s own performance report also provides figures that deserve independent examination. His administration says average monthly IGR had risen to about ₦8.5 billion by early 2025 and reports average expenditure performance of 73.03 per cent over the preceding three years.
Those are not figures to be accepted or rejected merely on partisan grounds. They should be independently interrogated. How much revenue was actually collected? Where did it go? Which projects were completed? At what cost? What liabilities were incurred? What was the actual economic and social return on the expenditure?
That is precisely why succession matters. If the next administration is politically committed to presenting the previous administration’s record as a success and merely “consolidating” it, there is an obvious risk that accountability could become politically weaker. This provides sufficient and legitimate grounds that Adekanmbi may have been selected to conceal wrongdoing. And the political arrangement creates legitimate grounds for voters and journalists to demand answers before accepting the argument for continuity.
There is another irony. Makinde recently warned traditional rulers against openly supporting political candidates, arguing that they should remain accessible to all political actors rather than become partisan. Yet, as an outgoing governor who is himself deeply involved in the 2027 political process, he must equally recognise the importance of allowing voters to make an independent choice about his successor.
The issue is therefore bigger than Adekanmbi’s competence or Salawu’s credentials. Both men are entitled to present themselves to the electorate and defend their records. The real question is whether Oyo people are being presented with a genuine choice or a carefully constructed continuity project.
A governor’s eight-year record belongs to the people. They have a right to know the stewardship of their government. They have a right to interrogate its finances, achievements and failures. And they have a right to decide whether they want continuity, correction or a completely different direction. Makinde should therefore not be asking Oyo people to trust a successor because that successor will continue his “Omituntun” vision.
The question voters should ask is much simpler: After eight years of Makinde, is this the government they want to continue, or is it time for Oyo State to independently choose a new direction? That is the decision that belongs to the people, not to the outgoing governor.
