Until the 2003 general elections, the Alliance for Democracy (AD), easily a pan-Yoruba political party, held sway in the South West geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Then, the AD controlled Lagos, Osun, Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti and Ogun states.
The tide, however, changed in 2003, when then President Olusegun Obasanjo, figuratively tricked Yoruba leaders, leading to the control of the zone by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Obasanjo had sought the support of Yoruba leaders, in his quest for re-election. His entreaties had led to an unholy alliance, where supporters of AD, which had transformed to the Action Congress (AC), were to vote for Obasanjo, in the presidential election.
The alliance backfired for AC, as Obasanjo’s PDP not only won the presidential election in the South West but also the governorship election in five of the six states. It was only in Lagos, where Senator Bola Tinubu was governor, which did not fall to the PDP.
Indeed, when Obasanjo emerged as president, in 1999, he lost election in his local zone, South West. The South West had voted for Chief Olu Falae, joint presidential candidate of AD/All Peoples Party (APP). In the election, Falae contested with Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, of the APP, as his running mate.
Between 1999 and 2003, Obasanjo succeeded in worming himself into the hearts of Yoruba leaders, who, out of sentiment, trusted him to keep his words of only being interested in the presidential election. However, in accepting to work for Obasanjo, while also working for themselves, Yoruba leaders shot themselves in the leg, as Obasanjo swept AC away and installed the PDP.
PDP was to maintain its grip on the South West, in 2007 when it, again, won five governorship elections and many senatorial and House of Representatives seats. However, the 2007 election became an albatross for the PDP, as the outcome was a subject of litigation. And this has seen the fall of PDP in Ondo, Ekiti and now Osun. With this, ACN has three states in the South West (Ekiti, Lagos and Osun), while Labour Party (LP) has one (Ondo).
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