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A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Farouk Aliyu, has identified internal disagreements, complacency and the party’s candidate-selection process as major reasons for its defeat in the Osun State governorship election.
Aliyu, who spoke on ARISE News on Monday, said the APC failed to properly manage disagreements within its ranks before the election. According to him, some party members were unhappy with the choice of candidate and consequently failed to give the campaign the level of support required to secure victory.
He described the outcome as a case of the APC defeating itself.
“So this, to me, APC defeated itself on Osun State,” Aliyu said.
The APC chieftain argued that the party should reconsider its approach to selecting candidates, particularly by giving greater attention to aspirants who command broad support within the party.
“Probably the person who has the largest followership amongst our party members is good for election,” he said.
Aliyu also blamed overconfidence among some APC members, saying they appeared to believe that support from the federal government would guarantee victory at the polls.
He said that expectation reduced the urgency with which some party members approached mobilisation and other campaign activities.
“Some… thought that probably federal government will come and just drive everybody and write the results,” he said.
According to Aliyu, the Osun result demonstrated that political parties cannot rely on such assumptions and must work directly to win voters.
He described the defeat as a warning to the APC and urged the party to avoid taking the electorate for granted.
“It’s a wake-up call for us,” he said, adding that the APC needed to “wake up” and understand that “we should not take people for granted.”
Aliyu also acknowledged the impact of incumbency and Governor Ademola Adeleke’s performance on the election outcome. He said public perception that the governor had performed well contributed to his ability to secure another term.
“The sitting governor, he did very well for his people, according to what the members of public in Osun State are saying. That he did well, so that also contributed to him being re-elected,” he said.
He therefore called on APC governors and other party leaders to place greater emphasis on governance and delivering results that would earn public support ahead of future elections.
“The people, the governors need to do things in such a way that people will stand by them, vote for them, by extension vote of our party,” Aliyu said.
The APC chieftain also accepted collective responsibility for the defeat, arguing that the loss should not be attributed only to the party’s Osun chapter.
“I mean, I also take responsibility because it’s all of us that have lost the election,” he said.
Aliyu said the party should use the period before the 2027 general elections to address its weaknesses, improve governance and rebuild confidence among Nigerians.
The comments followed the Osun governorship election in which Accord Party candidate and incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke won with 511,067 votes. APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji finished second with 444,815 votes.
