That is the question every honest party man should be asking themselves right now, not “who becomes the flagbearer.” Because if the current trend continues, APC Oyo may win the argument on paper and still lose the state on election day again. What we are watching unfold, especially in Oluyole Federal Constituency, is not politics. It is self-sabotage dressed up as strategy. A handful of elements have quietly taken over functions that belong to the party Secretariat, and rather than the leadership checking this, they are nodding along, either out of fear, convenience, or complicity. That is how a party stops being a party and becomes a vehicle for a few interests.

‎Let’s call it what it is: schemed-out primaries do not produce winners, they produce wounded candidates carrying grudges into a general election they can barely survive. Every time a clear, popular, electable aspirant is pushed aside in favour of someone “connected” or “settled,” the party is not securing a ticket, it is manufacturing its own defeat. Party faithful and voters are not as blind as some godfathers assume. They remember who was schemed out and why, and they remember it even at the ballot, not just at the primary.

‎Meanwhile, while APC Oyo is busy fighting itself over who gets what, the PDP/ APM under Gov. Seyi Makinde is not sleeping. They are not confused. They have already activated pro-primary consultations, they are courting stakeholders, they are reading the ground, and they are getting stronger and more intentional by the day. Every week APC wastes on internal power plays is a week Makinde’s structure uses to consolidate. This is not speculation; it is the lesson of the last general elections, playing out again in slow motion, and we are choosing to watch it happen rather than stop it.

The uncomfortable truth is this: grabbing a ticket is not the same as winning an election. A ticket obtained through manipulation, imposition, or the sidelining of stronger candidates is a hollow prize, it satisfies egos in the short term and costs the party governance in the long term. Politics is not a trophy to be seized in a backroom; it is a contract with the electorate that has to be won in the open, with a candidate who can actually carry votes across Ibadan, Oke-Ogun, and every LGA in between.

APC Oyo still has time to save itself from itself, but that window is closing fast. The party Secretariat needs to reclaim its role and its authority. The leadership needs to stop playing along with whoever shouts loudest or pays fastest, and start protecting the process that produces electable candidates. Oluyole is not an isolated case, it is a warning sign for what could replay across other federal constituencies if nobody speaks up now.

This is not written to embarrass anyone. It is written because some of us genuinely want APC to govern Oyo State again. The choice before APC Oyo is simple and urgent: fix the process now, or “shalaye” later.