The essay by Akin Adeyi seeking to canonize His Excellency Adegboyega Oyetola as the “unwavering pillar” of Osun APC and to dismiss all criticism as wickedness is a convenient rewriting of recent history. It appeals to emotion, but it evades the central political question that cost us the August 15, 2026 governorship election: who controlled the levers of power in the party, and how were they used? To insist that the defeat was a faceless “collective failure” while shielding the man who single-handedly nominated candidates and cornered federal patronage is neither honesty nor loyalty. It is scapegoating the party to protect one man.
Loyalty after 2022 is not in dispute. Many stayed and worked. But staying is not the same as building, and building is not measured by the number of defections attracted, but by the strength and inclusiveness of the structure left behind. The record presented by stakeholders shows a different pattern. Instead of broadening the APC, the period was marked by the concentration of candidate selection and federal appointments in one camp. The Governorship and Deputy Governorship tickets, 3 Senatorial candidates, 9 House of Representatives candidates and 26 House of Assembly candidates were all nominated without the input of elders and other critical stakeholders. At the federal level, a long list of appointments from Minister to Executive Directors, Commissioners and Governing Council Chairmen was dominated by individuals from the same hometown and political circle. When a leader controls both the ballot and the bazaar, and the party still loses its home state, that is not a collective accident. That is a leadership choice with consequences.
To respond to these facts by attacking the character of those who raised them is to miss the point entirely. Calling stakeholders hypocrites or opportunists does not answer why the base was disengaged, why communities across the three senatorial districts felt excluded, or why an internal reconciliation was ignored until after defeat. True loyalty to APC cannot mean silence in the face of exclusion. It must mean speaking up so the party survives. The Forum’s call for an independent review, an NWC-supervised reconciliation, and a transparent framework for future selections is not treachery. It is the very act of trying to save the house that Adeyi claims Oyetola rebuilt. A house rebuilt for one camp is not a party house. It is a private annex, and annexes do not win statewide elections.
Adeyi’s argument ultimately asks the party to trade accountability for gratitude. But gratitude does not win elections, and it does not substitute for strategy. The APC in Osun is bigger than any individual, and its platform belongs to all members, not to the network that managed it. If we continue to interpret every criticism as betrayal and every call for inclusion as wickedness, we will keep losing while congratulating ourselves for resilience. What Osun APC needs now is not hagiography, but correction: a return to collective leadership, equitable representation in appointments, and a candidate-selection process that draws from the depth of the party rather than the preference of a single circle. That is how we rebuild trust, reunite the ranks, and return to winning. Anything less is to protect the past while sacrificing the future.
