Something is shifting in Oyo state politics. On Tuesday, 7 July 2026, Taofeek Arapaja — until recently one of Governor Seyi Makinde’s most trusted political lieutenants — sat down with Senator Sharafadeen Alli, the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate for the 2027 Oyo state election. That meeting, reported across multiple outlets, has set the political class in Ibadan buzzing.
Arapaja currently serves as national secretary of a PDP faction aligned with Governor Makinde. He is also a former deputy governor of Oyo state and a figure who, not long ago, was considered firmly within Makinde’s inner circle. Now, sources say he is preparing to walk out — and cross to the ruling APC at the federal level.
The Break with Makinde
According to Leadership newspaper, Arapaja has already met with President Bola Tinubu as part of consultations ahead of a formal defection. The same sources say he is expected to resign his position as PDP national deputy chairman (South) as early as next week, before publicly announcing his next move. The timeline is tight. The intent appears firm.
The falling-out, sources say, traces directly to the PDP governorship primary that produced Abimbola Adekanmbi as the party’s 2027 candidate for Oyo state. Arapaja reportedly felt he was denied a fair run. One source put it plainly: “After the primary, he was treated with disdain and disrespect. That was when he realised he was no longer relevant in the political structure.” That is a damning verdict on a man who helped build the very structure now excluding him.
The grievances did not stop at the primary. Sources allege that in Makinde’s second term, political appointments previously channelled to Arapaja’s loyalists have been quietly redirected. Figures close to Bisi Olopoeyan and Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) are said to have secured 32 and 22 supervisory councillor positions respectively across Oyo’s 33 local government areas, while Arapaja’s camp received nothing. In Nigerian politics, patronage is oxygen. Cut it off, and loyalty suffocates.
A Divided Camp and a Silent Governor
Not everyone in Arapaja’s circle is ready to follow him across the aisle. Tribune Online reports that his loyalists are split over the proposed defection, with some apparently reluctant to abandon the PDP ahead of what promises to be a fiercely contested 2027 cycle. That internal division matters. A defection without a cohesive bloc behind it carries far less political weight.
Governor Makinde, for his part, has said nothing publicly. His silence is notable. A governor confident in his position would typically move quickly to dismiss or rebut reports of a major ally’s departure. The absence of any response from Government House leaves the story — and its implications — to breathe freely in the public domain.
What the Streets Are Saying
Social media has not been quiet. On X, reactions ranged from disbelief to dark amusement. One user, @woye1, called it “shocking,” describing Arapaja as Makinde’s right-hand man and predicting a wave of attacks from the governor’s online supporters against their own former ally. Olajide Balogun simply asked: “This politics ehnn — how did GSM and Taofeek Arapaja fall out?” And @dele003, with a string of laughing emojis, offered the bluntest take of all: “Seyi Makinde is gone.”
That last comment may be premature. Makinde remains governor, and incumbency in Nigerian politics is a formidable shield. But the symbolism of a figure like Arapaja walking away — if confirmed — is not trivial. It signals that the coalition Makinde assembled is under real strain heading into 2027.
The Bigger Picture for Oyo Politics
This development does not sit in isolation. Adebo Ogundoyin, speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly and a Makinde ally, recently declared that the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) is “our new party,” after leading colleagues to a strategic meeting with Adekanmbi — the PDP/APM consensus governorship candidate. The political architecture in Oyo state is being rearranged at speed, with loyalties, parties and platforms all in flux simultaneously.
What is clear is that the 2027 Oyo governorship race will not be a quiet affair. Alliances that looked settled six months ago are fracturing. New ones are forming in rooms that the public cannot yet see. And Taofeek Arapaja — a man who knows where Makinde’s political bodies are buried — may soon be standing on the other side of the fence, with everything that implies.