APC Governorship Aspirant Rejects Oyebanji’s Nomination Alleges Imposition by Party Leadership

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Fresh tension has emerged within the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State after governorship aspirant Abimbola Olawunmi openly rejected the emergence of Governor Biodun Oyebanji as the party’s candidate for the next gubernatorial race. The development has added a new layer of controversy to the state’s political scene, especially as internal party unity becomes more important ahead of the 2026 election.

Olawunmi, speaking during a television interview, said he could not back the governor’s candidacy because the process that produced him was, in his view, neither open nor credible. He argued that support would only have been possible if party members had been given what he described as a fair and transparent path to choose their preferred flagbearer.

Rather than accepting the consensus arrangement, the APC aspirant insisted that the decision reflected imposition by influential party figures. Rearranged from the original placement of his remarks, his core argument was that a flawed internal process cannot inspire genuine loyalty, no matter who benefits from it.

He also claimed that dissatisfaction with the governor already exists among many voters in Ekiti State. In his assessment, public sentiment is not as favorable as party leaders may suggest, and he questioned whether a candidate who did not test his popularity through a competitive primary could confidently expect victory at the general election.

The disagreement followed the APC’s decision earlier in the week to affirm Governor Oyebanji as its consensus candidate for the 2026 governorship election. The endorsement took place in Ado-Ekiti and was presented by party leaders as a show of confidence in the incumbent’s record and leadership style.

Support for the governor within the party hierarchy was evident in how the affirmation was handled. The motion backing his candidacy was introduced by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele and then supported by Ekiti State House of Assembly Speaker Stephen Aribasoye, a sequence that underscored the strong institutional backing behind Oyebanji’s emergence.

Party officials also defended the decision on performance grounds. Ahmed Ododo, who chaired the Affirmation Congress Committee, said the governor’s work across different sectors justified the APC’s confidence in him. He further described the ruling party as disciplined and argued that its growing acceptance among residents is tied closely to Oyebanji’s approach to governance.

According to Gossip News Now, the disagreement now raises questions about whether the Ekiti APC can preserve internal harmony as the election draws closer. While the party leadership has projected unity through its endorsement of the governor, Olawunmi’s resistance suggests that not all stakeholders are satisfied with how the process was handled.

The dispute is significant because contests over candidate selection often reveal deeper tensions beneath the surface of party politics. In many cases, complaints about consensus are not only about procedure but also about influence, access, and control within the structure. That appears to be part of the broader concern surrounding the Ekiti APC at this stage.

Commentary and Analysis

Olawunmi’s rejection of Oyebanji’s nomination highlights a familiar challenge in Nigerian politics: the conflict between party consensus and internal democracy. While consensus arrangements are often defended as tools for unity, they can also trigger resentment when aspirants believe the outcome was predetermined and their ambitions were never seriously considered.

For the APC, the bigger issue may not be whether Oyebanji retains elite backing, but whether the party can manage dissent without allowing it to grow into a wider crisis. A candidate imposed too forcefully may still enter the general election with visible cracks in party cohesion, and that can affect campaign energy, loyalty, and grassroots mobilisation.

At the same time, the governor’s supporters appear convinced that his record in office gives the party enough reason to rally behind him early. That means the battle in Ekiti may now shift from whether Oyebanji is the preferred choice of the leadership to whether the party can persuade the broader public and dissatisfied insiders that the process and the outcome are both worth defending.

If unresolved, this kind of internal friction could become one of the defining political subplots ahead of the Ekiti governorship election. The coming months will likely show whether the controversy fades into party discipline or hardens into a deeper struggle over legitimacy and control.