A troubling pattern has emerged from the series of closed-door political caucus meetings being convened by Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun ahead of the 2027 electoral cycle: the governor is reportedly dangling future appointments before aspirants as political compensation, even as his tenure winds down.
Notably absent from these gatherings is APC elder statesman and former Governor Aremo Olusegun Osoba, whose silence on the unfolding political horse-trading has raised eyebrows among party stakeholders across the state.
The central question being asked in political circles is a pointed one: on what authority does an outgoing governor promise appointments? Those are decisions that belong squarely to whoever succeeds him in office. By making such commitments, Abiodun risks either deceiving the aspirants he is courting or, more dangerously, laying a political minefield for his successor.
It is worth recalling that no predecessor gifted Abiodun the appointments that defined his political rise in 2019 and 2023. He secured those through political negotiation and electoral outcomes, not the benevolence of an outgoing officeholder.
Political observers warn that the manoeuvre bears the hallmarks of either deliberate mischief or a poorly calculated strategy that could fracture the party’s post-2027 structure before it is even formed.
Meanwhile, there are growing calls for Yayi, a figure being actively courted within these caucuses, to chart an independent political course rather than allow himself to be absorbed into Abiodun’s exit-stage politics.