A peaceful protest on Monday rocked the All Progressives Congress (APC) state secretariat in Ibadan, as indigenes of the Oke-Ogun zone rejected an alleged plan to zone the party’s chairmanship position to the area once again.

The protesters, operating under the socio-cultural group Egbe Ajosepo fun Itesiwaju Gbogbo Wa, said the proposed arrangement could undermine the zone’s quest to produce the next governor of Oyo State in 2027.

Carrying placards bearing inscriptions such as “Give us governorship seat in 2027,” “Let Oke-Ogun breathe,” “No to party chairmanship again,” and “We want true democracy,” the demonstrators insisted that allocating the chairmanship slot to the zone would amount to political marginalisation.

The protest followed an announcement by the Oyo APC, through its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, that an ad-hoc committee had been inaugurated to work out zoning arrangements for the party’s new state executive committee.

The committee, chaired by Alhaji Fatai Ibikunle, was mandated to distribute available party positions among the 33 local government areas in the state.

Addressing journalists during the protest, National Chairman of the group, Mr. Dauda Olaifa, said the demonstration became necessary following information that an indigene of Oke-Ogun had allegedly been pencilled down for the chairmanship position.

According to him, political convention makes it unlikely for both the governor and party chairman to emerge from the same zone, warning that such a move could effectively deny Oke-Ogun the governorship ticket in 2027.

Olaifa argued that since the return to democratic rule in 1999, party chairmanship positions across major political parties had frequently been occupied by individuals from Oyo North, particularly the Oke-Ogun axis.

“At a point, both APC and PDP state chairmen came from the same town in Oke-Ogun. Offering the zone the chairmanship again amounts to political tokenism rather than inclusion,” he said.

He further noted that Oke-Ogun, which comprises 10 local government areas and is the second-largest political bloc after Ibadan, has consistently supported the emergence of governors from other zones.

The group maintained that the zone would support any political party willing to present a governorship candidate from Oke-Ogun, stressing that several qualified aspirants had already emerged from the area.

Olaifa also dismissed individuals he described as “self-appointed negotiators” for the zone, accusing them of pursuing personal interests rather than the collective aspiration of Oke-Ogun people.

“Our position is clear: no deputy governorship slot, no party chairmanship position, but yes to the governorship of Oyo State in 2027,” he declared.

Also speaking, the group’s National Secretary, Pastor Favour Adewoyin, said rotational power sharing remained a common political practice across several states, including Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Lagos, Kwara, Kogi, Edo and Delta.

He questioned why Oyo State should deviate from what he described as an established democratic principle of power rotation.