Ahead of the 2027 elections, the residents of Ipetumodu, headquarters of Ife North Local Government Area of Osun State, on Thursday demanded that the ticket of the House of Representatives seat for Ife Federal Constituency from the Accord Party, All Progressives Congress(APC), be ceded to the community.
The residents under the aegis of Coalition of Concerned stakeholders, youth representatives, union leaders and student executives, led by its chairman, Bolaji Olabode, lamented that political concentration in the constituency is on urban towns at the detriment of other communities in the area.
“The local government created in 1989, with the second largest landmass in Osun, has been reduced to a mere voting bloc and has been sidelined in the distribution of political power and representation.
“We must emphasize that this challenge is not confined to any single political party, nor is it a reflection of our inability as a local government to align, realign, or strategically position ourselves while waiting for opportunities to be zoned to us and it must be said that this scenario is only one among many instances of marginalization we have endured, both within our federal constituency and across Osun State.
“Within the broader structure of the Ife Federal Constituency, where Ife North stands alongside Ife Central, Ife East, and Ife South, it is evident that political advantage has consistently tilted toward more urbanised centres, leaving our people to negotiate from a position of collective disadvantage. While others consolidate power through elite networks and institutional presence, Ife North is often expected to align, support, and deliver votes without a commensurate stake in leadership.”
The coalition demanded that all political parties in the state zone their 2027 House of Representatives tickets for Ife Federal Constituency to Ife North, adding that the deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress and the Accord Party were both from Ife Central Local government.
“We are prepared to mobilise and work with any political party willing to enter into a concrete agreement with us, specifically on the House of Representatives ticket and the appointment of a commissioner in the forthcoming governorship cycle,” he added.
A member of the coalition, Taiwo Babalola, said: “We are not interested in collecting N10,000, N20,000. We are far from that. We have people who are graduates and are capable of giving appointments or job opportunities at the federal parastatals. When the election time comes, they will call us for support, but when it comes to distribution of opportunities, they will go away and marginalise us.”