The race for the senatorial ticket of All Progressives Congress (APC) for Oyo North Senatorial District is getting clearer as one of the reported aspirants, Chief Mrs Hannah Ogunesan has reportedly clarified that she will only contest for the ticket if the incumbent third term senator in the district, Senator Abdul Fatai Buhari is not running again for the ticket.
The former Head of Service in the Oyo State under Governor Abiola Ajimobi reportedly made the clarification at different meetings with former local government chairmen and parliamentarians from Oke Ogun. A former local governament chairman under the Ajimobi government who attended the meeting with Chief Mrs Ogunesan weeks back in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State said she was categorical that she would only contest for the seat if Senator Buhari is not running for a fourth term.
A former member of the Oyo State House of Assembly under the Lam Adesina Government who also was at the meeting Chief Ogunesan held with the parliamentarians corroborated this account of the meeting. “She said clearly that she would contest for the ticket only if Senator Buhari will not be running for the office again. This is why the parliamentarians resolved that she is not a serious candidate. Some of us even suspect she is in the race to muddle the waters and create an opportunity for Senator Buhari to go for a fourth term”.
Senator Buhari who is from Ogbomosho South Local Government comes from the Ogbomosho axis of the senatorial district and is in his 10th year in the Senate. He would be completing 12 years in the upper chamber at the expiration of his third and current term. The Ogbomosho axis in the senatorial district has three local governments in the senatorial district against the Oke Ogun axis that has 10 local government areas.
There has been renewed agitation in Oke Ogun that the 10 local governments should produce the next Senator because 12 years of the office in the Ogbomosho axis are more than enough and not equitable. Proponents of the argument, have sarcastically termed their campaign ” 3 is greater than 10″ to prick the consciousness of the people from the district to the unequitable control of the senatorial seat.
Sources at the meeting of Chief Ogunesan and the parliamentarians reported that the parliamentarians were forthright in stating that their primary objective was to ensure a senator from the Oke Ogun axis for an equitable distribution of offices between the two axis of the senatorial district.
While Chief Ogunesan remains uncertain of her aspiration, Senator Buhari has also been evasive about his ambition. Although there are speculations that he might run for the governorship ticket of APC, the limit of his political activities to Oke Ogun and Ogbomosho has raised suspicion that he is more interested in the senate and not the governorship of the state.
Unlike governorship aspirants like Engr Aderemi Oseni and Barrister Akeem Agbaje who are traversing the five zones of the state to seek support, Senator Buhari has not ventured outside Ogbomosho and Oke Ogun areas in his political activities.
This suspicion has been depeened by the fact that in 2019 and 2023, Senator Buhari started the election periods by claiming interest in the governorship ticket only to make a u-turn in the eleventh hour to collect the senatorial ticket.
