How BTO Took Ondo APC from Under a Sitting Governor - THISDAYLIVE
Lucky Aiyedatiwa did not win the Ondo governorship through a typical election. He inherited it when Governor Rotimi Akeredolu died in office. That inheritance came with a constitutional ceiling: because Akeredolu’s tenure counts as his first, Aiyedatiwa cannot seek a third term. His window closes in February 2028.
Knowing that timeline makes it easier to understand everything that has just happened to him.
Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, known as BTO, is Nigeria’s Minister of Interior and a native of Ondo North. He has federal weight, presidential access, and deep roots in Ondo’s grassroots politics. He wants to be governor in 2028, and he has been positioning for it methodically.
The confrontation came to a head over the 2027 National Assembly candidate lists. Aiyedatiwa attempted to push through a handpicked set of loyalists as APC’s nominees. Aspirants who were shut out responded with over 500 petitions to the party’s National Working Committee in Abuja.
The NWC sided against the governor. The final list sent to INEC contained none of his Senate or House of Representatives picks. The slots went to BTO-aligned candidates. In the State Assembly, only 11 of 26 candidates are considered Aiyedatiwa loyalists, and even those had to travel to Abuja personally to lobby for their names to survive.
Reports say the governor broke down in tears in Abuja when the outcome became clear.
Sources close to the situation say the root of his defeat was financial. BTO reportedly deployed significant resources to capture the party structure at both state and national levels. Aiyedatiwa, by contrast, is said to have underinvested in his political machinery early, and loyalists drifted.
With only 11 assembly allies and impeachment whispers already circulating, his remaining tenure is now fragile. Ondo has done this before. In 2018, Adams Oshiomhole’s NWC overrode Akeredolu the same way. Akeredolu retaliated covertly, and the APC lost Senate seats to the PDP.
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