PARTY SUPREMACY AND THE DEFENSE OF CONSENSUS: LAGOS VALIDATES ONDO’S PRESENT PATH
In every mature political family, there comes a moment when leadership must choose between popularity and order, between the noise of ambition and the silence of discipline. That moment has arrived in Ondo State, and the calculus of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa mirrors the exact playbook that gave the All Progressives Congress total victory in Lagos State in 2019. To understand why the present consensus arrangements in Ondo are not only constitutional but strategic, we must return to Lagos in September 2018 and watch how discipline, not defiance, builds power.
In Lagos, the Governance Advisory Council, the GAC, looked at the state of the party and took a difficult but necessary decision. Incumbent Governor Akinwunmi Ambode sought a second term. The GAC, after consultation with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, party elders, and the 57 local government chairmen, concluded that for the sake of party stability and to heal alienation within the structure, the ticket should go to Babajide Sanwo-Olu. There were other aspirants with legitimate claims. Dr. Obafemi Hamzat had a doctorate, royal lineage, and a statewide political structure. Jimi Agbaje, Jandor, had grassroots following. Ambode had the power of incumbency.
The test of party supremacy is not whether leaders take decisions. Leaders will always take decisions. The test is what happens after the decision is announced. On September 29, 2018, Hamzat walked to a podium and delivered the most important speech in modern Lagos APC history. He said he had been asked by his leaders to step down for Sanwo-Olu in the interest of the party. He declared himself a loyal party man. He collapsed his structure and directed every one of his supporters to work for Sanwo-Olu. He did not file a suit. He did not go on radio. He did not form a “Concerned Lagosians for Justice” group. He understood that in a ruling party, the decision of the caucus is the law of the house. Within seventy-two hours he was named Deputy Governorship candidate. He had chosen loyalty over ambition, and the party rewarded loyalty with proximity to power. Today he is a two-term Deputy Governor and the most senior executive in Lagos after the Governor. That is the dividend of discipline.
Ambode initially resisted but after losing the direct primary by over nine hundred thousand votes, he conceded the next morning. He did not go to court. That restraint preserved his place as an elder in the party. Jandor chose the third path. He rejected the GAC decision, defected to the PDP, and declared war on the party that built him. The party did not blink. It moved on without him. He lost in 2019 and he lost again in 2023. Lagos APC swept every seat in 2019 because the house was in order before the campaign began. The GAC decided in September, the party campaigned in October, and the party won in March. That sequence is not magic. It is method.
Now bring that method to Ondo State in 2026. The APC leadership across several constituencies, acting on the directive of the state caucus and with the full knowledge of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has initiated consensus arrangements for the 2027 general elections. The goal is simple and it is identical to the Lagos goal of 2018. Avoid rancor, reward equity, protect the party from the self-inflicted wounds that cost us seats in 2023, and present one candidate, one message, and one campaign to the electorate. The stakeholders met. They zoned. They appealed to certain aspirants to stand down in the interest of the bigger picture. The Governor, like Tinubu in 2018, has made it clear that the party’s survival is bigger than any individual’s ambition.
Yet a few dissident aspirants have chosen the Jandor route. They disrespected the decision of the stakeholders, ignored the Governor’s appeal, and went ahead to obtain nomination forms. They have since taken to radio and social media to describe the consensus as “imposition” and to paint themselves as victims of democracy. This is where Governor Aiyedatiwa’s calculus becomes critical, and it is why the Lagos example vindicates him.
First, the Governor understands that consensus is not imposition. Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 expressly provides for consensus candidacy once all aspirants sign off. Lagos did not force Hamzat out. Lagos persuaded Hamzat to see the bigger picture, and Hamzat had the wisdom to sign. The Ondo dissidents were given the same opportunity to be Hamzat. They chose to be Jandor. The Governor’s duty is not to beg them twice. His duty is to protect the party from the chaos their defiance invites.
Second, the Governor knows that swift compensation ends rebellion. Hamzat was made Deputy Governor in seventy-two hours. That is why Justice Forum did not go to war. The present arrangements in Ondo have already factored in compensation for those who respect the caucus. Board appointments, federal agency slots, and cabinet positions are on the table for loyal men who wait. But compensation is for loyalists, not litigants. You cannot obtain a form to fight the party in the morning and expect the party to feed you in the evening.
Third, the Governor appreciates the power of one voice. After the GAC spoke in Lagos, only the State Publicity Secretary spoke for the party. No commissioner, no local government chairman, no aspirant contradicted the line. That is why Lagos controlled the narrative. The dissident aspirants in Ondo are granting interviews to attack the same party they claim they want to serve. They are teaching the PDP how to campaign against us. The Governor’s insistence on media discipline is not censorship. It is strategy. A party that speaks in seven voices will be defeated by an opposition that speaks in one.
Fourth, Governor Aiyedatiwa, like the Lagos GAC, believes in consequence. In Lagos, anti-party behavior earns suspension. It is the fear of that sanction that keeps the rest in line. The dissidents in Ondo have calculated that there will be no consequence, that the Governor will be “father of all” and tolerate indiscipline to avoid making enemies. That calculation is wrong, and the Lagos result proves it. Ambode fought the GAC and became a political memory. Jandor defected and became a serial loser. Hamzat obeyed and became Deputy Governor. The Governor’s firmness today is the only guarantee that Ondo APC will not repeat the losses of 2023.
The qualities that made Hamzat the hero of Lagos 2018 are the same qualities the Governor is demanding from Ondo aspirants today. Loyalty over ambition. Technocratic value over empty noise. Emotional intelligence over radio insults. Strategic patience over immediate gratification. Structure discipline over parallel groups. Absence of entitlement over “it is my turn” blackmail. And the language of institutions: “If the party says I should be a cleaner, I will clean.” Those are not punishments. Those are the credentials for future leadership. The dissidents who obtain forms against the stakeholders’ decision are failing every one of those tests.
So the present consensus arrangements in Ondo are not an attack on democracy. They are a defense of victory. The Governor’s calculus is not personal. It is historical. He has seen what happened in Lagos when leaders decided and members obeyed. He has also seen what happened in Ondo in 2023 when leaders decided and members rebelled. He has chosen the Lagos path, and every loyal party man should thank him for it.
The dissidents have a choice. They can be Hamzat and accept that stepping down is not stepping out. They can take compensation, keep their structure intact, and contest again in 2031 with the blessing of the establishment. Or they can be Jandor, fight the party, lose, and spend the next decade explaining why they are not in the room when decisions are taken.
Party supremacy means the party is bigger than all of us. The stakeholders have spoken. The Governor has adopted their position. The constitution backs consensus. The Lagos example proves it works. To obtain a form after the leaders have decided is not courage. It is indiscipline. To attack the Governor for enforcing discipline is not bravery. It is anti-party.
Where there is a GAC, there is victory. Where there is a Governor with the courage to enforce consensus, there will be victory in Ondo. The present arrangements deserve the support of every true progressive, because the alternative is the chaos that gave the PDP seats in 2023. The party has chosen order. The Governor has chosen order. History will record that those who chose disorder chose defeat.
Amb. H. K. Bello ✍️from Ehinogbe ward 1, Owo, Ondo state
