By Adeyinka Adeniran
The political atmosphere in Oyo State witnessed a sharp stir on Monday as the governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Comrade Adebayo Titilola-Sodo, laid bare his dissatisfaction over Governor Seyi Makinde’s choice of Bimbo Adekanmbi as his preferred successor ahead of the 2027 gubernatorial election.
Titilola-Sodo, a former labour leader and past Special Adviser to Governor Makinde, revealed that his decision to part ways with the administration stemmed from what he described as a breach of trust and a departure from the foundational ideals that built the administration’s most praised achievements.
Speaking while featuring as a guest at a forum organised by the Correspondents Chapel of the Oyo NUJ, Mokola Ibadan on his gubernatorial ambition, the AA flagbearer explicitly detailed his fundamental dissent with the Governor, noting that despite working closely behind the scenes to secure the administration’s major wins, Makinde bypassed key contributors to single-handedly crown a successor.
He ruled out the insinuations that he may be holding on the forte for Makinde’s candidate and would collapse his structure to support him.
He said, “Comrade Sodo is not the kind of person to hold forth for anybody. In fact, that is one of my major reasons for dissent with Governor Seyi Makinde, because without recourse to those who helped achieve the vision hes celebrating today, he has chosen a successor.
“That successor, I was with the team when I was appointed for a specific purpose. I did not join the party. Maybe I would now have joined the party if I was anointed to be the successor. Because I know that we built this decent reputation together.”
Lamenting what he described as an unfair outcome after years of strategic collaboration, the former union leader pointed out that the welfare sector for workers, widely regarded as Governor Makinde’s strongest selling point, was a joint effort that should have informed the continuity of leadership.
He noted that Adekanmbi was not one of the members that worked to secure the glory that the Makinde’s administration is enjoying today but that it was even saddening that the gover or did not see anyone of the team members fit to take over the mantle of leadership, except an ‘outsider’ who joined the party as a ‘contractor’ to see through the Ibadan airport upgrade.
He added, “That area, which is our area that nobody can challenge, the area of the welfare of workers and pensioners, we did it together. We did that area together; that area is the most successful sector that this government cannot say a sentence without referring to it.”
Recounting the inception of the administration, the AA candidate revealed how his timely intervention saved Governor Makinde from an early confrontation with organized labour over the national minimum wage.
“The day our boss was sworn in at the Liberty Stadium, during his declaration on the podium, he said he was not going to pay minimum wage. Does anybody remember? Because, in his idea of federalism, nobody should be dictating to the next one what to pay as minimum wage.
“Trouble started from there. Fortunately, I was not the only person there; all the Exco of NLC were there with me. Everybody heard that, well, your trouble continues.”
Sodo detailed how he privately reached out to the Governor to de-escalate the crisis before Makinde’s first official appearance at the state secretariat, leading to a crucial meeting where strategic advice was offered on labour relations and the constitutional boundaries of local government administration.
Extending his critique to the current administration’s stance on local government autonomy, Titilola-Sodo firmly defended his previous assertion that state resources meant for local councils are being “evacuated” through centralized procurement and non-resident contractors.
“When we say something is being evacuated, I’m using it in the parlance of the contractor handing in a job not being a resident of that place in which he is discharging the services. After work, every job, every contract has a profit margin… But if he came from, say, even Lagos… all his profit, he is taking it to Lagos. That is what I mean by evacuation.
“By now denying those places the resources due to them, are we not evacuating the resources? … That Section 7 does not say that the functions of local government should be taken away from them and handled by somebody else. It only recommended oversight function on them and not to take away their responsibility.”
Although, the AA candidate commended the Makinde’s administration for some laudable feats, he insisted that it could be better going by the amount of resources available to the state government both from the federal government and internally generated resources.
Outlining his manifesto for rural and agrarian communities across Oke-Ogun, Ibarapa, and Ogbomoso, Titilola-Sodo promised a shift from sole reliance on large-scale operators toward structured support for small and medium-scale farmers through value-addition cottage industries.
“The plan—and this will not be a full government outfit, but we will not leave it to the private operators alone—we’ll encourage the farmers in each zone such that in each local government, there will be at least one cottage industry. A place noted for mango production at its peak, there should be an industry there that will add value before the fruits, before the produce, is evacuated outside of the place.”
“If they put themselves together, like maybe we have 10 farmers, the cottage industry will cost like N20 million—just for example—if they are able to raise N10 million among them, the government will add N10 million to it to ensure that that industry comes alive.”
Dismissing insinuations that his candidacy is merely a front or placeholder for other political interests, Titilola-Sodo maintained that his track record as a grassroots administrator uniquely positions him to offer Oyo state a truly decentralized, worker-friendly, and economically productive governance model.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Correapondents’ Chapel of Oyo NUJ, Comrade Yinka Adeniran said the Chapel decided on the platform to give candidates an equal opportunity to sell their visions to the electorate.
He said members of the Chapel are professionals who do not belong to any political party and would its platforms available to all parties who are willing the seize the opportunity, as contributions to the development of the country’s democratic processes.
