Oyo, with its capital at Ibadan, one of Africa’s largest cities, has some of the most competitive governorship politics in the South-West. For its first two decades in the Fourth Republic no governor managed to win a second term, a pattern local commentators called the Oyo “second-term jinx”. Since 2015 the state has re-elected two governors in a row, and since 2019 it has been one of the PDP’s last strongholds.
1999 and 2003: Lam Adesina loses
Lamidi Onaolapo Adesina, a teacher and Awoist politician, won the January 1999 election for the Alliance for Democracy with 454,680 votes. In April 2003 he lost to the PDP’s Rashidi Ladoja, a businessman and former senator, who polled 636,212 votes to Adesina’s 381,310.
2006: impeachment and return
Ladoja fell out with the Ibadan PDP strongman Lamidi Adedibu, who had backed his election. In January 2006 a minority of state lawmakers, meeting outside the House of Assembly, impeached him, and his deputy Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala was sworn in. The courts ruled the impeachment unlawful, and Ladoja returned to office in December 2006 to serve out his term.
2007 and 2011: Alao-Akala in and out
Alao-Akala, backed by Adedibu, won the PDP ticket and the April 2007 election with 357,972 votes against 239,189 for the ANPP’s Abiola Ajimobi, a former oil executive and senator. Four years later Ajimobi, now in the Action Congress of Nigeria, unseated him in April 2011 by 420,852 votes to 387,132.
2015: the jinx is broken
In April 2015, running for the APC, Ajimobi became the first governor of Oyo to be re-elected, with 327,310 votes against 254,520 for former governor Ladoja, now in the Accord party. The PDP candidate, Teslim Folarin, finished further back.
2019 and 2023: Makinde
In 2019 the PDP’s Seyi Makinde, an engineer and businessman who had lost the 2015 race, beat the APC’s Adebayo Adelabu, a former Central Bank deputy governor, by 515,621 votes (56.2%) to 357,982 (39%), winning 27 of the 33 local governments.
Makinde was re-elected on 18 March 2023 with 563,756 votes (63.4%), against 256,685 for the APC’s Senator Teslim Folarin. Adelabu, who had left the APC, came third for Accord with 38,357 and later became Minister of Power. Makinde was one of the “G5” PDP governors who refused to back the party’s presidential candidate in 2023, and in 2026 he remained one of only two governors still in the PDP.
The results at a glance
| Year | Winner (party) | Votes | Runner-up (party) | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Lam Adesina (AD) | 454,680 | PDP candidate | not published |
| 2003 | Rashidi Ladoja (PDP) | 636,212 | Lam Adesina (AD) | 381,310 |
| 2007 | Adebayo Alao-Akala (PDP) | 357,972 | Abiola Ajimobi (ANPP) | 239,189 |
| 2011 | Abiola Ajimobi (ACN) | 420,852 | Adebayo Alao-Akala (PDP) | 387,132 |
| 2015 | Abiola Ajimobi (APC) | 327,310 | Rashidi Ladoja (Accord) | 254,520 |
| 2019 | Seyi Makinde (PDP) | 515,621 | Adebayo Adelabu (APC) | 357,982 |
| 2023 | Seyi Makinde (PDP) | 563,756 | Teslim Folarin (APC) | 256,685 |
2027: an open seat
Makinde is term-limited. The APC’s candidate for the 6 February 2027 election is Senator Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli, who won the party’s primary in May 2026. INEC’s final list names Hazeem Ola Gbolarumi for the PDP and Adegoke Taofeek Adegboyega for the ADC (name as INEC lists it).
