The governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in Oyo State, Comrade Adebayo Titilola-Sodo, has rejected Governor Seyi Makinde’s choice of Bimbo Adekanmbi as his preferred successor ahead of the 2027 election.

Titilola-Sodo, a former labour leader and Special Adviser to Makinde, said his decision to part ways with the administration stemmed from what he described as a breach of trust and differences over the administration’s direction.

He spoke on Monday at a forum organised by the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State Council, in Mokola, Ibadan, where he discussed his ambition for the governorship.

Titilola-Sodo said he would not support Makinde’s preferred candidate or collapse his political structure in favour of Adekanmbi.

“Comrade Sodo is not the kind of person to hold forth for anybody. In fact, that is one of my major reasons for dissent with Governor Seyi Makinde, because without recourse to those who helped achieve the vision he’s celebrating today, he has chosen a successor,” he said.

The AA candidate said he had worked with the administration to achieve some of its major accomplishments, particularly in workers’ welfare, which he described as one of its notable achievements.

He argued that those who contributed to the administration’s achievements should have been considered in succession discussions.

Titilola-Sodo said Adekanmbi was not part of the team that worked with Makinde from the outset, adding that he was disappointed that the governor did not select a successor from among those who contributed to the administration.

He said: “That successor, I was with the team when I was appointed for a specific purpose. I did not join the party. Maybe I would have joined the party if I were anointed as the successor. Because I know that we built this decent reputation together.”

Titilola-Sodo also disputed suggestions that he could eventually support the governor’s choice, saying his decision to contest the election was based on his political convictions and differences with the current direction of the administration.

He added, “That area, which is our area that nobody can challenge, the area of the welfare of workers and pensioners, we did it together. We did that area together; that area is the most successful sector that this government cannot say a sentence without referring to it.”

Recounting the administration’s inception, the AA candidate said his timely intervention saved Governor Makinde from an early confrontation with organised labour over the national minimum wage.

“The day our boss was sworn in at the Liberty Stadium, during his declaration on the podium, he said he was not going to pay minimum wage. Does anybody remember? Because, in his idea of federalism, nobody should be dictating to the next one what to pay as minimum wage.

Extending his critique to the current administration’s stance on local government autonomy, Titilola-Sodo firmly defended his previous assertion that state resources meant for local councils are being “evacuated” through centralised procurement and non-resident contractors.

“When we say something is being evacuated, I’m using it in the parlance of the contractor handing in a job not being a resident of that place in which he is discharging the services. After work, every job, every contract has a profit margin… But if he came from, say, even Lagos… all his profit, he is taking it to Lagos. That is what I mean by evacuation.

“By now denying those places the resources due to them, are we not evacuating the resources? … That Section 7 does not say that the functions of local government should be taken away from them and handled by somebody else. It only recommended oversight functions on them and not to take away their responsibility.”

Although the AA candidate commended the Makinde administration for some laudable feats, he insisted it could be better, given the resources available to the state government, both from the federal government and internally generated resources.

Outlining his manifesto for rural and agrarian communities across Oke-Ogun, Ibarapa, and Ogbomoso, Titilola-Sodo promised a shift from sole reliance on large-scale operators toward structured support for small- and medium-scale farmers through value-addition cottage industries.

“The plan—and this will not be a full government outfit, but we will not leave it to the private operators alone—we’ll encourage the farmers in each zone such that in each local government, there will be at least one cottage industry. A place noted for mango production at its peak, there should be an industry there that will add value before the fruits, before the produce, is evacuated outside of the place.”

“If they put themselves together, like maybe we have 10 farmers, the cottage industry will cost like N20 million—just for example—if they are able to raise N10 million among them, the government will add N10 million to it to ensure that that industry comes alive.”

Dismissing insinuations that his candidacy is merely a front or placeholder for other political interests, Titilola-Sodo maintained that his track record as a grassroots administrator uniquely positions him to offer Oyo State a truly decentralised, worker-friendly, and economically productive governance model.

Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel of Oyo NUJ, Comrade Yinka Adeniran, said the Chapel decided on the platform to give candidates an equal opportunity to sell their visions to the electorate. (The Nation)