How Folarin’s game plan should be
It’s not easy to defeat an incumbent, but Folarin’s game plan can seriously upset Makinde and bring the APC candidate to the seat of the governor of Oyo State.
Mr. Teslim Folarin, a member of the Senate, will take on Mr. Seyi Makinde, the state governor on 11 March. The latter is seeking another term in office just as the 1999 constitution of the country allows. In the political arena of the country, defeating the incumbent is often a herculean task.
Mr. Folarin, who looks forward taking over from Makinde, can just queue behind Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of their All Progressives Congress. The emergence of Tinubu has a bigger chance of ushering Folarin in.
The presidential election comes first and Tinubu, who rides on the mantra of “it’s my turn”, is one of the two candidates to beat. His main challenger is the PDP’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar. If Tinubu beats the Adamawa-born politician, it will much easier for Senator Teslim Folarin to beat Makinde at the state level.
The main argument will be that Oyo State should not be in opposition with the party in power. Currently, the APC controls the federal while PDP controls (Oyo) state. At this moment, the APC controls all southwestern states except Osun and Oyo.
The governors of the two states even belong to factions. Mr. Folarin can assiduously work to ensure that Mr. Bola Tinubu emerges. This will of course bolster APC in Oyo State and simultaneously weaken the ruling PDP in the pacesetter state.
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