Ogun Should Not Be Captured: Showunmi Criticizes Yayi’s Appearance

… Warns against “imposed consensus”, calls for resistance

Daud Olatunji

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State, Otunba Segun Showunmi, has criticized the emergence of Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Ogun State in the forthcoming elections, warning that the development signals a dangerous drift towards statehood in the state.

Adeola was announced on Monday evening by the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, during the party’s state caucus meeting, as the consensus governorship candidate of the APC for the 2027 elections.

Showunmi, in a statement titled “From Magbon to today: We will not be conquered – the Ogun line in the sand”, described the growing acceptance of what he called an “imposed consensus” as worrying, arguing that it undermines the democratic values ​​and independence for which the Ogun people are historically known.

While recognizing that political parties have the right to adopt consensus as a method of selecting candidates, he stressed that such agreement must be based on integrity and credibility to be legitimate.

According to him, “In any serious political system in which consensus has credibility, it rests on an indispensable foundation: integrity. Without it, consensus degenerates into imposition.”

He said those driving the current arrangement have no demonstrable record of integrity in either private or public life, arguing that what is presented as consensus is simply “a crude tool of control.”

The PDP stalwart warned that the trend, if unchecked, could erode democratic principles and pave the way for the takeover of the state’s political structure by vested interests.

“This is how state capture begins, and it must be countered,” he said.

Showunmi further described the situation as a defining moment for Ogun residents, urging them to defend their tradition of political independence or risk complicity in what he described as an ongoing imposition.

He drew historical parallels to underline his position, citing the decline of the Oyo Empire as evidence that entrenched systems can be challenged and referring to Egba’s united government as a symbol of strong indigenous governance.

He also recalled the resistance of the Ijebu people during the Anglo-Ijebu War, also known as the Magbon War, stressing that their defiance against the colonial forces reflected a legacy of courage and self-determination.

“This legacy imposes a duty,” he said. “We cannot, in this generation, accept the status of a conquered people under the guise of political convenience or manufactured inevitability.”

The former presidential aspirant added that although the current political moves are being framed as a legitimate process, many residents perceive them as demeaning and undemocratic.

“What is happening may be presented as a trial, but it is experienced as a humiliation,” he said.

Showunmi, who signed the statement as Odofin Keesi and “The Alternative”, called on political stakeholders and the electorate to remain vigilant and resist any attempt to subvert due process in the state.

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