By Concerned Progressive Stakeholders from Ota, Ogun West Senatorial District
Your Excellency,
We write this open letter with profound respect for your office, your political wisdom, and your contributions to the growth and stability of Ogun State. We also write as concerned progressive stakeholders from Ogun West Senatorial District who believe that history, logic, political calculation, democratic fairness, and electoral pragmatism must guide the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) regarding the Ogun West Senatorial ticket in the 2027 general election.
This is not merely a political appeal. It is a call for justice, strategic thinking, and political self-preservation for the APC. Your Excellency, Ota deserves the Ogun West Senatorial seat in 2027.
Any attempt by the leadership of the APC to remove the senatorial ticket from Ota and take it to another town within Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area — whether Igbesa, Agbara, or Ado-Odo — would amount to a grave political miscalculation with dangerous electoral consequences for the party.
Politics is not conducted in the realm of sentiments alone. It is fundamentally driven by numbers, influence, strategic calculations, and electoral realities. In all these critical indices, Ota stands far above every other town in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area and even within Ogun West Senatorial District. Ota is not merely another town. Ota is the political and economic heartbeat of Ogun West.
It is therefore politically indefensible for any political structure to contemplate taking a senatorial seat away from a massive electoral asset and urban centre with huge voting strength and transfer it to a comparatively rural location. Such a move would send dangerous signals to the electorate and create avoidable resentment among voters who have consistently stood by the APC.
The bitter truth in politics is that electorates do not like being taken for granted. Once voters begin to feel marginalized or ignored, they may begin to consider alternative political options.
Your Excellency, Ota has remained the electoral backbone of the APC in Ogun West. The town and its surrounding communities have repeatedly demonstrated loyalty to your administration and to the progressive family. In both the 2019 and 2023 general elections, Ota produced the largest voting bloc in Ogun West Senatorial District and significantly contributed to your victory at the governorship polls.
The electoral statistics are available for everyone to see.
In the 2023 general elections, Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government secured 44,568 votes for the APC, while the remaining four local government areas in Ogun West had a combined total of 52,714 votes. Ota alone produced more than 80 percent of the votes recorded in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area.
Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government consistently records one of the highest voter turnouts in Ogun State. In Ogun West Senatorial District, the local government contributes well above 40 percent of the total votes cast during major elections. This is not accidental. It is the direct consequence of Ota’s population strength, urban expansion, industrial concentration, commercial vibrancy, and cosmopolitan character.
The APC must therefore be careful not to reward loyalty with political exclusion. A political party that weakens its strongest electoral fortress risks creating avoidable fractures within its support base.
History has repeatedly shown that great political parties collapse not because of opposition attacks, but because of internal miscalculations and poor political judgment.
Your Excellency, Ota is not only blessed with population strength; it is equally endowed with exceptional human capital. The town has produced highly accomplished sons and daughters who have excelled nationally and internationally in politics, governance, engineering, business, academia, diplomacy, public administration, and private enterprise.
Today, three distinguished Ota indigenes are prominently positioned in the race for the Ogun West Senatorial ticket under the APC. They are:
Gbolahan Dada
Lai Taiwo
Noimot Salako-Oyedele
These are not lightweight politicians. They are experienced technocrats and accomplished public servants with national relevance, intellectual depth, administrative competence, and political exposure. Most importantly, they possess the qualities required of modern senators in today’s complex democratic environment.
The role of a senator in contemporary Nigeria goes beyond attending plenary sessions and moving motions. Nigeria today requires senators who possess:
Strong negotiation skills
National and international exposure and influence
Capacity for persuasive argument
Legislative intelligence
Economic understanding
Strategic networking ability
Diplomatic maturity
Grassroots political connection
Broad local and global perspectives
The Senate is a sophisticated arena of national bargaining, influence, power negotiation, coalition-building, and strategic legislative engagement. Ogun West cannot afford to send weak representation into such an environment.
This becomes even more important when one considers the calibre of political figures emerging from other senatorial districts in Ogun State.
In Ogun East Senatorial District, there is already a fierce political contest involving Your Excellency, Dapo Abiodun, and former Governor Gbenga Daniel.
In Ogun Central Senatorial District, Senator Shuaib Salisu and former Governor Ibikunle Amosun remain dominant political forces.
Why then should Ogun West become the odd one out? Why should Ogun West lower its political weight when other zones are fielding heavy political gladiators with enormous influence and negotiation capacity?
Ogun West deserves equal political strength and prestige, especially considering the towering political status and negotiating influence of Senator Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, who is expected to vacate the seat in 2027 in pursuit of higher service to Ogun State.
This is why Ota’s finest must be seriously considered.
Furthermore, with the growing political momentum of Senator Olamilekan Adeola as a possible first governor from Ogun West, the zone requires a formidable senator who can complement such a historic administration with intellectual strength, strategic influence, and powerful national connections.
A governor cannot work effectively in isolation. He requires senators from his zone who understand federal politics, negotiate critical projects, attract investments, influence national conversations, defend regional interests, and build strategic alliances within the National Assembly and beyond.
Ota possesses candidates with such capacity. To ignore this reality would amount to weakening Ogun West at a very crucial political moment in its history.
Your Excellency, there is another major political danger that must not be ignored. If APC stakeholders create the impression that Ota’s electoral value is being deliberately undermined or politically shortchanged, the consequences could become unpredictable in 2027.
Large urban voting populations are politically sensitive and sophisticated. When voters begin to feel excluded or taken for granted, they often respond in unexpected ways.
This brings to mind the famous “Otedola phenomenon” of 1991 in Lagos State, when political calculations unexpectedly collapsed and produced Michael Otedola as governor against prevailing expectations.
Political history teaches one permanent lesson: never underestimate voter reaction.
Your Excellency and APC stakeholders must therefore avoid creating conditions where Ota voters may begin to consider alternative political options in the Ogun West Senatorial election. That would be politically dangerous.
Today, the APC enjoys enormous goodwill in Ota because the people believe they are central stakeholders in the progressive movement. That confidence must not be shattered through avoidable political decisions disconnected from electoral realities.
The path to easy and overwhelming victory for the APC in Ogun West in 2027 is very clear.
The party should strategically select one of the three formidable Ota indigenes currently in the senatorial race. Doing so would:
Consolidate APC’s strongest voting base
Strengthen party unity
Energize grassroots mobilization
Enhance electoral confidence
Neutralize opposition penetration
Produce stronger senatorial representation
Maintain political balance within Ogun West
Above all, it would demonstrate fairness, political intelligence, and strategic foresight.
Your Excellency, leadership is ultimately remembered not merely for power exercised, but for wisdom displayed at defining moments. This is one of such moments.
The APC must not weaken its strongest fortress.
The APC must not alienate its largest voting bloc.
The APC must not gamble with Ota.
History, political arithmetic, electoral statistics, demographic realities, and strategic logic all point in one direction: Ota deserves the Ogun West Senatorial seat in 2027.
May wisdom guide your decisions and those of other APC leaders. May fairness prevail over narrow calculations. And may Ogun West continue to advance in unity, strength, and political relevance.
Respectfully Yours,
A. A. Adeyemo
For: Concerned Progressive Stakeholders
Ota, Ogun West Senatorial District
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