Former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State and Senior Consultant on Political Matters to Governor Dapo Abiodun, Dr Sikirullahi Ogundele, has projected that the All Progressives Congress (APC) could secure about 98 per cent of the votes in the state for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.
Ogundele said the ruling party was confident of overwhelming support for the President, arguing that the political calculations ahead of the elections favoured Tinubu, with even politicians and groups outside the APC expected to contribute to his electoral success.
He made this known on Monday, while featuring on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, where he discussed opposition politics, the internal crisis within the PDP, his defection to the APC and the performance of the Tinubu administration.
Explaining his projection, the former PDP chairman suggested that the ruling party’s anticipated support would be complemented by votes from outside its political structure.
“Let’s just see it like that. I’m going out, people will give you over fifty-five percent of your vote, APC will give you one hundred percent. Go and do it, we give you nothing else. That’s the calculation. If we have not been so good in leadership, by force of fire, the presidential election would have been affected. It’s going to work for Mr. President. PDP is going to work for Mr. President. So we are expecting about ninety-eight percent of the total votes in Ogun State,” Ogundele said.
His projection comes amid political realignments in Ogun State, including the movement of opposition figures into the ruling party, as political actors begin positioning themselves ahead of the 2027 elections.
Ogundele attributed the changing political landscape partly to the internal disagreements within opposition parties, particularly the PDP, which he described as factionalised and weakened by unresolved leadership disputes.
He argued that the crisis had created uncertainty within the party and could undermine its ability to organise effectively, reconcile competing interests and present a united challenge to the APC in the forthcoming elections.
The former chairman said the disagreements within the PDP extended beyond Ogun State, with competing political interests and leadership claims at the national level influencing developments within state chapters. He identified the camps associated with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and former Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, as major blocs involved in the party’s divisions.
Explaining his own political realignment, Ogundele said his group and the faction associated with Hon. Ladi Adebutu had initially aligned with Wike before becoming dissatisfied with the arrangement.
“There is faction in PDP at the state level. My own faction and Ladi Adebutu’s faction were with Wike. When I noticed that if you are with Wike, one leg in PDP, one leg in APC, why can’t we just move to the mainstream? That was exactly what the Assembly members that got elected through PDP did. Why remain a subclass citizen in APC when you can join the mainstream and become a full citizen?” he said.
Ogundele alleged that Wike maintained political interests in both the PDP and APC, questioning the consistency of the arrangement and its implications for members aligned with his political camp.
He said his group considered joining the APC directly a better option than remaining within a political arrangement where members felt disadvantaged. He added that members of the Ogun State House of Assembly elected on the PDP platform also took the decision to align with the ruling party.
Ogundele had served as chairman of the Ogun PDP before disagreements over the party’s leadership and political direction contributed to the emergence of rival factions. In June 2025, he described the party as being affected by transactional politics and unresolved leadership disputes while indicating his intention to move to the APC.
He eventually led several party members, including Adekunle Akinlade, the PDP’s 2023 deputy governorship candidate, to the APC in July 2025.
The former chairman also discussed the implications of the Supreme Court judgment on political party membership registers and the submission of candidates’ names to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He maintained that compliance with party registration requirements was essential for aspirants seeking to contest elections, warning that those whose names were missing from the appropriate membership records could face disqualification.
“If your name is not in the register of the political party, you cannot run an election. That is what is affecting some of our people in Ogun State today and in some other states,” he said.
He further explained that the responsibility for submitting candidates’ names to INEC rested with the national leadership of political parties rather than their state chapters.
Referring to the commission’s published list following the Supreme Court judgment, Ogundele said the registration issue could affect aspirants whose names were not captured in the relevant party records.
“INEC has just come up with the list of candidates after the Supreme Court judgement. If they don’t have their name in the register, they are going to be disqualified. That’s what the law says,” he said.
His comments come amid developments surrounding the PDP’s preparations for the 2027 governorship election in Ogun State, particularly the omission of the party and its candidate, Ladi Adebutu, from INEC’s published list of candidates.
The Ogun PDP, however, rejected concerns about Adebutu’s membership status, maintaining that he was properly registered and that the party had complied with the relevant procedures. The disagreement has added another dimension to the party’s internal challenges ahead of the election.
Ogundele also argued that politicians should not defect to other parties simply because they failed to secure nomination tickets during primaries, maintaining that aspirants should respect established electoral procedures and party rules.
Beyond the opposition’s challenges, the former PDP chairman defended President Tinubu’s economic reforms, particularly the removal of fuel subsidy, arguing that the administration inherited longstanding economic problems.
He maintained that the country’s economic difficulties predated the current government, recalling warnings by former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala about the structural challenges confronting the Nigerian economy.
According to him, subsidy removal was part of an attempt to address problems successive administrations had failed to resolve adequately, while the savings could be channelled into infrastructure development and other government priorities if properly managed.
“It is not the government in power today that caused it. The president said he is going to tackle the problem of this country. He is going to reform this country,” he said.
Ogundele also questioned the consistency of opposition parties on economic policies, particularly the debate surrounding fuel subsidy removal under former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012 and its eventual implementation under Tinubu in 2023.
He argued that political parties should provide clear alternatives to government policies rather than oppose decisions simply because they were introduced by the ruling party.
The governor’s consultant maintained that economic restructuring could involve difficult adjustments before the expected benefits became visible to citizens, urging Nigerians to exercise patience with the administration.
“If you really want to reform, you must go through some pain. You cannot have a gain without going through some pain,” he said.
He further defended the political realignments involving governors and other politicians from opposition parties, arguing that their decisions to support Tinubu reflected confidence in the President’s reform agenda.
Ogundele also expressed optimism about Nigeria’s democratic development, describing the country’s political system as one still undergoing a process of growth and institutional adjustment.
“We are still growing democratically in Nigeria,” he said.
He maintained that political parties needed to strengthen their internal structures, resolve leadership disagreements and establish clear ideological positions to remain competitive.
