More than 200 former councillors who served across the 33 local government areas of Oyo State have defected from the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), pledging to mobilise voters for the party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The former legislators, who served between 2021 and 2024, formally joined the APC on Tuesday at the party’s state secretariat in Oke-Ado, Ibadan, where they were received by members of the state executive committee led by Chairman Moses Alake Adeyemo.
Their defection comes amid intensified grassroots mobilisation by political parties in Oyo State ahead of the 2027 elections.
The APC has already unveiled Senator Sharafadeen Alli as its governorship candidate and has been calling for stronger grassroots mobilisation and unity within its ranks.
The reception was also attended by former Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, and members of his Presidential Campaign team, who were at the party secretariat on a courtesy visit.
Folarin is currently listed as the South-West Zonal Secretary for Stakeholders’ Mobilisation in the APC’s 2027 Presidential Campaign Council.
Speaking on behalf of the defectors, Hon. Muili Kazeem Arowodana said their decision to leave the APM followed what he described as years of maltreatment, deprivation and dehumanisation under the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde.
Arowodana alleged that the former councillors served their three-year tenure without adequate financial support or meaningful opportunities to deliver projects to their constituents.
According to him, allocations to the local government councils were diverted through the Joint Account system, while councillors received what he described as inadequate salaries and no allowances.
He further alleged that the former councillors could not attract significant development projects to their respective constituencies because decisions concerning project awards, contractors and costs were concentrated in the hands of the governor.
“We are here, at the Secretariat of the APC in Oyo State, this afternoon to formalise our status as new members of the Progressive Family,” Arowodana said.
He added that the group had been frustrated by what he described as the failure of the Makinde administration to pay their severance benefits, claiming that the situation had left many former councillors facing serious economic difficulties.
Arowodana also alleged that some of their colleagues had died after being unable to afford medical treatment for illnesses.
He accused Governor Makinde of maintaining a system that had denied former councillors and local governments adequate resources, while also criticising the governor’s reported succession plans.
According to him, the defectors would instead support Senator Sharafadeen Alli, the APC’s 2027 governorship candidate, and other candidates of the party.
“We have a far better candidate in Sen. Sarafadeen Alli and we have determined to work for him and other APC candidates going forward,” he said.
Alli emerged as the APC’s governorship candidate earlier this year, with the party subsequently unveiling candidates for the governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly elections.
The APC leadership has identified unity and grassroots mobilisation as key elements of its strategy for challenging the ruling political structure in the state in 2027.
The latest defection represents a significant grassroots addition for the APC if the former councillors succeed in translating their political networks across the state’s 33 local government areas into electoral support.
