Akure is about to witness a political tournament cum chess game ahead of the APC primary for Ondo Central Senatorial District, particularly with two legacies showing up on the board before the party polls.
On one side stands Senator Niyi Adegbonmire, SAN, the incumbent and Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, alongside other critical committee assignments. Adegbonmire is widely identified as one of only two Senior Advocates in the Red Chamber, and he is rated as performing. A notable stakeholder in the ruling APC in Ondo State, Barr. Sola Ajisafe, recently described him as suave, intelligent, calculative, and deeply rooted as a town’s boy with a political foundation that runs through family history. His father, a touted progressive and serving Secretary to Government under Chief Ade Adefarati (1999–2003).
On the other side is Dr. Taiwo Fasoranti, son of Afenifere’s leader: an accomplished medical doctor and, until recently, Secretary to the State Government under Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa. Fasoranti is said to have resigned to pursue a senatorial ambition, though according to the wider reads, other motives are also being imagined behind the abruptness of that move.
The simple point—still loaded with strategy
The contest is framed as simple but may not be too straightforward: one seat, two Akure sons, and a governor who is not in Adegbonmire’s camp.
The facts, as Sola Ajisafe reads them, point toward one conclusion:
Aiyedatiwa nudged Fasoranti to run. In this telling, the move appears like a continuation of the “compensation” narrative tied to Afenifere’s support during Aiyedatiwa’s primary.
But Ajisafe warns the gesture may function like a poisoned chalice. The idea, he notes, is that Akure initially rallied behind Aiyedatiwa because it was expected to be a roller coaster of four years and that the governor would later go hands-off. That promise, the analysis claims, is looking increasingly like something that may not hold.
*Why Fasoranti is “floating”—and what it may actually be for*
Ajisafe offers alternative scenarios for Fasoranti’s entry into the race. One is that Fasoranti is being floated to test the waters, gain party experience, and eventually become a counterweight to the growing political weight of Hon. Bunmi Tunji-Ojo in Ondo politics—or to slow momentum among the Akure people.
However, Ajisafe’s deeper position is that Aiyedatiwa may be flying a kite—with the real game located further ahead, particularly in 2028.
2028 is the target, and the Senate is not the grooming
In Ajisafe’s interpretation, Fasoranti is being groomed for governorship, especially if Aiyedatiwa fails to survive the political challenge surrounding the third-term succession plot. The argument is direct: Fasoranti is not being groomed for the Senate.
Against that backdrop, Ajisafe insists that the ticket is likely to return to the incumbent’s side, stating that Senator Adegbonmire will clinch the APC ticket and return in 2027.
Tinubu’s calculus: no room for experiments
Ajisafe concludes by invoking the known style of President Bola Tinubu, emphasizing that Tinubu does not trade a performing person, whether in the legislature or executive for what he frames as an experiment. In Ajisafe’s telling, the Fasoranti bid is a feint concocted to satisfy an ego, while the true objective remains anchored in the larger political timetable.
