On Wednesday, 11th December 2024, banners and flags carrying the caption ‘ATIKU IS COMING’ were spotted around the Olonkoro area of Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

Speculations have risen about the impending political moves of the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

The building on which the banners and flags were spotted, reportedly belongs to Sen. Felix Kola Ogunwale, a PDP Chieftain who is also the immediate past Chairman of the Governing Council of the Osun State College of Technology, Ilesa, before he resigned his appointment earlier in the year.

Further fueling speculations of impending political re-alignments is the presence of a signpost bearing ‘ADC Osun State Secretariat’, in-between the ‘Atiku is Coming’ flags.

The mounting speculations are also connected to reports of moves by several political bigwigs in the country, to build a coalition of political forces that will unseat the incumbent President Bola Tinubu.

The reports of an impending coalition were further fuelled with the recent visit of Peter Obi, the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, to Atiku Abubakar. The coalition, according to reports, is hoping to benefit from the tussle within the PDP, and the reported rift within some State chapters of the APC.

Speaking with Redio Afinju Correspondent, Sen. Felix Ogunwale insisted that he remains a Member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, but he fully supports the aspirations of Atiku Abubakar to become President.

Asked whether there are plans in place by forces loyal to Atiku Abubakar to move to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ogunwale declined comments, insisting that he is a Member of the PDP and will not give comments on happenings about or around another political party.

The 2027 Presidential race seems to be commencing in earnest with recent events and speculations about alignments and re-alignments pointing towards what is to come in an election expected to be keenly contested.