Former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola has said his endorsement of President Bola Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election has expired. The Peoples Democratic Party chieftain made the declaration during an interview on Channels Television, confirming that he no longer supports Tinubu’s re-election bid.
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Oyinlola was among the PDP stakeholders in Osun State who endorsed Tinubu for a second term on July 20, 2025. However, when asked whether he still stood by that endorsement, he replied simply: “It has expired.”
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Why He Endorsed Tinubu
The former governor explained that the endorsement was not based on personal loyalty or ideological alignment. According to him, it was a political strategy shaped by the situation in Osun State at the time.
Oyinlola said the state was facing a serious problem over missing local government funds and uncertainty about who the rightful occupants of local government offices were. He argued that the issue should have been resolved by the President, but claimed that no solution came.
“Reason being that if you need to catch a monkey, you have to behave like one,” he said. “We have a problem in Osun State. The local government funds are missing.”
For Oyinlola, local government is the arm of government closest to the people. He said the unresolved crisis affected service delivery and governance at the grassroots, creating pressure on PDP stakeholders to seek a political way out.
A Political Chess Move
The former governor described the endorsement as a “political chess move” intended to address the challenges facing Osun State. He said the aim was to find a way to resolve the local government crisis and protect the interests of residents.
However, Oyinlola made it clear that the strategy did not work. “We did not achieve anything, and I exited it almost immediately,” he said.
That admission is significant because it reframes the earlier endorsement as tactical rather than genuine. In his account, supporting Tinubu was never a long-term political commitment; it was an attempt to use influence at the federal level to solve a state-level problem.
Support Shifts to Seyi Makinde
Oyinlola has now declared support for Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, who is seeking the presidency in 2027 on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement.
That shift places him among prominent political figures backing Makinde’s presidential ambition rather than Tinubu’s re-election. It also signals a possible realignment within sections of the PDP as the 2027 contest approaches.
Makinde’s candidacy gives Oyinlola a new political home and a new candidate to mobilise around. His decision to publicly abandon the Tinubu endorsement may encourage other PDP stakeholders in Osun to reconsider their own positions, especially if they share his concerns about local government governance and federal intervention.
What This Means for Tinubu
Oyinlola’s withdrawal is a political setback for Tinubu in Osun, even if it does not automatically translate into lost votes. Endorsements matter because they signal where influential party figures believe political momentum lies.
The former governor’s explanation is particularly damaging because he says the endorsement failed to achieve its purpose. That suggests Tinubu did not deliver the intervention Oyinlola and other Osun stakeholders expected.
For Tinubu’s campaign, the challenge will be to prevent similar defections among other PDP figures who may have supported him for strategic reasons. If more stakeholders conclude that their political calculations have not paid off, the President could face growing resistance in states where he once counted on cross-party support.
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