How To Lose An Election Before It Starts
By
Segun Olatunji
In a stunning display of administrative wizardry, the Independent National Electoral Commission, on Saturday, unveiled its final list of candidates for the February 6, 2027 Ogun State governorship election. To the absolute shock of nobody who understands the comedic tragedy of Nigerian party politics, the name of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer, Ladi Adebutu, was again conspicuously omitted.
According to official whispers, INEC struck out Adebutu because his name allegedly failed to appear on the PDP membership register submitted to the commission. In a masterclass of political self-sabotage, the PDP somehow managed to successfully clear its House of Assembly, House of Representatives and Senatorial candidates, but forgot to properly file the paperwork for the actual man running for governor. It takes a special kind of organisational talent to submit 40 names to an electoral body and have precisely two—the governorship candidate and his deputy, Alhaja (Dr) Yemi Sowunmi-Kolapo— vanish into thin air.
While the Ogun PDP is busy issuing press statements claiming this is a minor “clerical error” or “unintentional oversight”, the harsh reality under Section 77(7) of the Electoral Act is clear: if your name isn’t on the submitted register, you don’t get to play.
The Yayi Coronation Tour: 2027 is Already Settled
With Adebutu trapped in a bureaucratic limbo, the 2027 Ogun governorship race has effectively transformed from a contest into a ceremonial coronation for Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known across the length and breadth of Nigeria as Yayi.
Let’s be entirely honest: even if Adebutu’s lawyers perform legal gymnastics and somehow get his name squeezed back onto the ballot using whatever more grace available, it would merely delay the inevitable. The contrast between the two camps is stark. While one side is struggling to prove its candidate is an actual card-carrying member of his own party, Yayi has been operating like a bullet train. The opposition likes to complain that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is celebrating too early, arguing that Yayi’s supposed statewide popularity is mere propaganda. But propaganda requires a lack of physical evidence, and unfortunately for the opposition, Yayi’s footprints across Ogun State are cast in concrete.
A Track Record Beyond Ballot Box Drama
The preferred status of Yayi as the next Lord of the Oke-Mosan Government House does not rely on INEC’s clerical efficiency or the PDP’s inability to maintain an Excel spreadsheet. It relies on a relentless, decades-long track record of delivering tangible democratic dividends.
Long before the 2027 gubernatorial whistle blew, Yayi transformed representation into an art form. As a federal lawmaker, his interventions have consistently felt more like executive execution than mere legislative oversight. Consider his mass empowerment schemes, which have repeatedly distributed multi-million naira grants, operational tools and deep-pocketed financial lifelines to thousands of artisans, market women and youth across the state. While alternative politicians specialise in distributing promises and structural blame, Yayi specialises in distributing transformers, grading rural roads and building ICT centres.
His infrastructural interventions in Ogun West and beyond have redefined what constituents expect from their elected officials. From facilitating the construction of critical healthcare facilities to ensuring major educational institutions receive the structural face-lifts they deserve, Yayi has positioned himself as the developer-in-chief. He didn’t wait to become governor to start acting like one. This systematic, grassroots empire-building has made him a formidable force—with or without an organised opposition on the ballot.
The Luxury of a One-Horse Race
The current political landscape in Ogun State feels less like an impending democratic battle and more like a gentleman’s walkover. The PDP can scream “propaganda” and “jittery opposition” all they want, but the comedic visual of a political heavyweight missing his own party’s bus is impossible to erase.
When an opposition party spends the critical months leading up to an election verifying whether its candidate exists in its database, it frees up the ruling party to focus on the future. Yayi does not need the luck of a fractured ballot to win, but INEC’s strict adherence to statutory discipline certainly makes the walk to the Oke Mosan Governor’s Office much smoother.
The lesson here is simple: if you want to run a state as complex and sophisticated as Ogun, you should probably start by learning how to fill out a membership register. Until the PDP masters the basic mechanics of filing paperwork, Ogun voters will gladly stick with the man who has spent his political career building roads, empowering communities and keeping his eyes firmly on the prize.
OLATUNJI, A POLITICAL/CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST, WRITES FROM ILARO, OGUN STATE
