It's no longer news that Senator Hosea Ayoola Agboola, popularly known as Alleluyah, has dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State.
It's also a known fact that the former lawmaker and the state's governor Engr. Seyi Makinde had fallen out prior to his defection, and that it was indeed the faceoff between them that made him (Alleluyah) dump PDP.
What's most significant here, however, is how the once cordial relationship between Governor Makinde and Alleluyah went sour to the extent of him leaving a government he was instrumental in bringing to power and the party that brought him to political prominence both at the state and national levels.
Those who are familiar with Oyo politics will tell you about Alleluyah's contributions toward Makinde's emergence at the party level and his eventual victory in the 2019 governorship election.
Alleluyah with his experience as a former Deputy Chief Whip of the 7th Senate and his enormous influence as the only serving PDP senator from South West in 2011 knew the right people to meet as well the right buttons to press and he, indeed, played his roles well, alongside other major stakeholders, in making sure things worked out for Makinde as an aspirant then.
So it wasn't surprising when he became the face of Governor Seyi Makinde-led administration in the state during the first term.
In fact, it will be an understatement to describe Alleluyah as Makinde's strongest political ally at the time.
The Igbojaye-born politician from Itesiwaju local government was simply the master strategist of the political scheming and alliances that brought Makinde to power.
Not only did he serve as Chairman of the Oyo State Advisory Council, but he also became incredibly powerful and one of Governor Makinde's closest political confidantes.
Back then, wherever Governor Makinde was seen, Alleluyah was invariably present.
He became so powerful that he was reportedly the one who nominated all the local government chairmen and political appointees from Oke-Ogun, his home region.
What then went wrong between the two once close political allies? You may want to ask.
While Makinde and Alleluyah's face-off was majorly attributed to the 2023 political alignment when the former supported President Bola Tinubu, the then APC Presidential candidate, at the detriment of his own party, and the latter disagreed and stood his ground with PDP's candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, fresh facts however suggest otherwise.
Their feud according to those in the know was more of power struggle and what they described as Alleluyah's tall ambition.
Findings revealed that Alleluyah has always been eyeing the number seat in the state and was seriously working towards it, using his closeness to the governor as tools to realize his ambition and potentially undermining the governor's long-term prospects.
This, we gathered, was why there was pressure from Alleluyah's camp for Governor Makinde to support an Oke-Ogun candidate in 2027, knowing the extensive groundwork in place at the 10 local governments in Oke-Ogun which also fall under Oyo North Senatorial District that he once represented.
These actions, combined with various complaints, were reportedly discovered by Governor Makinde, leading him to begin curbing Halleluyah's influence and excesses.
The first sign that all was not well between the two political titans was when Alleluyah suddenly started withdrawing from the governor's circle. He was no longer seen with the governor like before and all that.
While these tensions simmered, the final blow came in 2023 when Halleluyah was replaced as Chairman of the State Advisory Council by Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. This demotion reduced him to an ordinary member of the Council
The governor also constituted the Oyo State Elders’ Council and made the duo of former Chief of Staff to Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, Saka Balogun and former Minister of Power and Steel, Elder Wole Oyelese as chairman and co-chairman.
Alleluyah however bowed out of PDP in October 2025. In an official resignation letter, he said his decision to quit the party was motivated by his “future political pursuit,” which he described as necessary at this time.
“You will observe that I did not participate in all the congresses held recently, both local and state, due to future political pursuit, which is necessary at this material time,” he noted.
The question is now that Alleluyah has left PDP to join other political bigwigs in APC, how far can he go with his governorship ambition. Can he really deliver Oke-Ogun zone for his new party and defeat whoever Makinde will be supporting for governorship in 2027. Time will tell.
Credit: City People
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