Court Affirmations for Odimayo and Arobo Deliver Massive Victories to Federal Legislative Alignment, Throwing State Machine into Turmoil
BTO Alignment Celebrates Legal Victories, Singing Triumph and Proclaiming Interior Minister Factional Leader
Aiyedatiwa Loyalists Beat Drums of Appeal War as Hostile Intra-Party Blocs Clash Under One Roof Ahead of 2027 Polls
A political war of attrition has erupted inside the ruling All Progressives Congress in Ondo State, where judicial rulings, aggressive factional jockeying, and pre-election positioning ahead of the 2027 general elections have effectively split the party into an internal “Rainbow Coalition.”
While the political alignment forged across party lines between FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s PDP network and the APC at the national level is understandable as a strategic multi-party alliance for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election, what is unfolding in Ondo State represents a far more volatile version of a coalition, an internal rainbow alliance forged entirely within the same ruling APC, where hostile factions under one banner are locked in a relentless battle for total control of the state’s political machinery.
The intra-party war reached a boiling point following consecutive judicial rulings over key National Assembly tickets. In the Okitipupa/Irele Federal Constituency, a court judgment affirmed incumbent federal lawmaker Hon. Jimi Odimayo as the authentic APC candidate, handing a crushing blow to Dr. Olumuyiwa Daramola, whose camp had produced primary election collation officers and INEC representatives in court to prove he won the primary in a landslide.
A similar legal shift shook the Owo/Ose Federal Constituency, where the Court of Appeal dismissed five separate appeals filed by incumbent lawmaker Hon. Oluwatimehin Emmanuel Adelegbe and affirmed Barrister Ghani Rotimi Arobo as the valid APC ticket-holder. While Barrister Arobo is widely identified as the preferred candidate of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s administration, political insiders note that the true origin of his strategic backing against Adelegbe remains shrouded in intrigue, further worsening the trust deficit among party leaders.
The judicial outcomes immediately triggered explosive, contrasting reactions within the same party fold. While Daramola’s and Adelegbe’s supporters openly lamented losing party tickets despite claims of popular grassroots support, an allied faction of federal lawmakers and party heavyweights gathered in public victory rallies to celebrate Odimayo’s legal triumph. Prominent past and present House of Representatives members—including Hon. Donald Ojogo (Ilaje/Ese-Odo), former lawmaker Hon. Kolade Akinjo, alongside Hon. Jimi Odimayo, Hon. Oluwatimehin Adelegbe, Hon. Festus Akingbaso, and Hon. Olubunmi Ehindero—assembled alongside key federal allies loyal to Minister of Interior Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo (BTO).
In an outright display of intra-party defiance, the lawmakers broke into ecstatic victory songs, openly hailing Minister Tunji-Ojo as the undisputed leader and supreme political compass of their movement in Ondo State.
These court battles reflect a brutal proxy war between two hostile power centers operating under one party banner: the Abuja-backed ministerial alliance led by BTO, and the state executive machinery controlled by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa. Governor Aiyedatiwa’s camp and aggrieved aspirants are refusing to back down, beating the drums of war and resolving to push their legal challenges to the Supreme Court.
Political analysts warn that when the apex court delivers its final verdict, the losing faction will be forced to choose between uneasy submission or launching clandestine, underground anti-party operations to sabotage rivals in 2027.
This volatile dynamic has forced the Ondo APC into an aggressive, self-cannibalizing Rainbow Coalition. Uniting the Minister’s federal legislative bloc, Governor Aiyedatiwa’s state executive network, legacy party structures, and former opposition converts like Akinjo under one roof, this coalition operates less like a unified political party and more like a battleground of warring factions, fighting fiercely against each other for the ultimate control of the APC’s soul ahead of the 2027 elections.
