By Agbogunleri Seun Michael
Emotions are powerful, but politics especially progressive politics must be guided by facts, strategy, and institutional discipline, not sentiment or selective outrage. The essay by Arewa Oluwaseun titled “What Is the Offence of Ife in APC?” is passionate, but passion alone does not equate to truth. It raises questions that deserve answers, yes but it also advances conclusions that are neither entirely fair nor politically accurate.
Let us begin with a basic truth: no political party is built to satisfy ethnic entitlement or geographical emotionalism. The APC, like every serious political institution, operates within rules, internal competition, strategic calculations, and national considerations. To frame every unfavourable outcome as a deliberate hatred for Ife is to oversimplify a far more complex political reality.
Loyalty Is Not Ownership
The repeated invocation of “loyalty” as a moral mortgage the party must eternally repay is problematic. Loyalty in politics is commendable, but it does not automatically confer entitlement to tickets or offices. Senator Babajide Omoworare’s contributions to the party and the nation are not in dispute. His pedigree is respected. However, experience does not suspend party guidelines, nor does history nullify internal processes. Disqualification right or wrong must be interrogated within the framework of rules, not emotional blackmail.
If loyalty alone were the sole determinant, then primaries would be unnecessary.
Omisore and the Politics of Context
Senator Iyiola Omisore’s role in the 2018 election is well documented, but history must be told whole, not in convenient fragments. Politics is reciprocal, yes but it is also contextual. His emergence and exit as National Secretary were products of broader national party dynamics, not a vendetta against Ife. To interpret every political turn involving Omisore as an anti-Ife conspiracy is to confuse individual political fortunes with collective persecution.
Political relevance is not permanent; it is negotiated continuously.
The Dangerous Narrative of Collective Humiliation
Words like “humiliation,” “erasure,” and “exclusion” are heavy, emotive terms. They may excite passions, but they also risk misleading the grassroots. Ife sons and daughters are not spectators in APC. They occupy positions, influence structures, win elections, and participate actively across state and federal levels. The absence of a governorship ticket at a particular moment does not translate to collective oppression.
By that logic, every senatorial district that has not produced a governor recently is being “punished.”
The Deputy Governor Argument: Facts Matter
The religious argument around the deputy governorship slot has been stretched beyond logic. APC, as a national party still rebuilding trust after 2023, must be sensitive to optics, balance, and electability. Decisions around tickets are rarely about one factor alone religion, zone, competence, structure, and voter psychology all intersect.
Reducing a complex strategic choice to “they hate Ife” is intellectually lazy.
Leadership Is Not Noise
The rhetorical question “Do our Ife APC leaders truly love Ife?” is unfair and bordering on reckless. Love for one’s people is not proven by shouting at the party in the media or issuing emotional ultimatums. True leadership sometimes requires restraint, negotiation, and long-term calculation, not public grandstanding.
History does not only remember those who spoke loudest; it remembers those who secured sustainable relevance.
Ife Must Think But Clearly
Yes, Ife must think. But thinking must be strategic, not reactive. Politics is not protest; it is positioning. Burning bridges because of temporary setbacks has never helped any political bloc. APC is not perfect, but neither is it an enemy of Ife. The party remains a viable platform one that Ife leaders helped build and must continue to shape with wisdom, not wounded pride.
Final Word
This is not a dismissal of genuine grievances; it is a call to discipline our narratives. Ife’s strength has always been intellect, strategy, and patience not emotional brinkmanship. The future will not be secured by framing ourselves as perpetual victims, but by remaining relevant actors in the power equation.
Politics rewards consistency, structure, and timing.
Anything else is noise.
—Agbogunleri Seun Michael
