The Fasehun-led faction of the O’odua People’s Congress says it will support President Bola Tinubu again, citing its role in his 2023 victory

The O’odua People’s Congress faction founded by the late Dr Frederick Fasehun has endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term, pledging to mobilise support for his re-election in the 2027 presidential election.

Also read: APC Governors Vow to Deliver Tinubu in 2027, Says Uzodinma

The endorsement was announced in Lagos on Saturday, August 29, 2026, as hundreds of OPC members gathered to mark the organisation’s 32nd Founders’ Day and inaugurate a new National Executive Council.

The declaration marked an important political moment for the group, which has historically linked its activities to the protection of Yoruba interests and Nigeria’s democratic struggle.

The OPC’s re-elected President, Wasiu Afolabi, said the organisation would again support Tinubu, recalling its contribution to his successful presidential campaign in 2023.

“We contributed our quota to ensuring the victory of Tinubu in 2023,” Afolabi said.

He said the position was consistent with an orientation attributed to the organisation’s late founder, Dr Fasehun, who encouraged the OPC to regard the emergence of a Yoruba person in national office as a collective responsibility.

“One lesson from Fasehun is that the organisation should regard any Yoruba man in office as OPC’s corporate project,” Afolabi said.

He added that the group would continue to stand behind Tinubu in 2027 if what he described as the right atmosphere was created.

“As a result of this orientation that our founder gave us, and if the right atmosphere is created, we shall still queue behind President Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election,” he said.

The endorsement also came with an appeal directed at other parts of the country.

Afolabi urged Nigerians outside the South-West, particularly those in the North, to support Tinubu’s second-term ambition, arguing that the President had previously supported former President Muhammadu Buhari during his two terms in office.

“We also urge the other regions to support the President’s second-term bid to help him perfect the visionary reforms he has embarked upon,” he said.

“The North especially should realise that it is payback time for the backing that Tinubu gave to late President Muhammadu Buhari’s two tenures of eight years.”

The comments place the OPC firmly within the emerging political calculations ahead of the 2027 election, although the organisation’s endorsement represents the position of the Fasehun-led faction rather than a declaration on behalf of every group operating under the wider OPC identity.

The group’s political position is rooted partly in the circumstances surrounding its formation.

Afolabi recalled that Fasehun established the organisation in August 1994, following the political crisis created by the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

“Some 32 years ago, when Dr Frederick Fasehun took the initiative to establish the OPC, it was to fulfil a divine assignment. OPC was born as a child of necessity,” he said.

He described the annulment of the election, which was won by the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, as a profound injustice to those who voted.

Afolabi said the June 12 mandate was taken away by the military government despite the support it had received from millions of Nigerians.

He described the episode as an insult to the voters who gave Abiola their mandate and particularly to the Yoruba people.

The June 12 election remains one of the defining episodes in Nigeria’s democratic history. Abiola was widely recognised as the winner, but the election was annulled by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida, triggering a prolonged political crisis and widespread resistance.

The OPC emerged against that turbulent backdrop, with Fasehun positioning the organisation as a platform for defending Yoruba interests and resisting military rule.

At Saturday’s anniversary event, Wale Oshun, Chairman of the occasion and Chairman of the OPC Board of Trustees, similarly described the organisation as an important legacy institution in Nigeria’s struggle for democracy.

Oshun said the OPC’s continued existence and growth eight years after Fasehun’s death demonstrated the durability of the founder’s vision.

The organisation has, however, evolved considerably from the circumstances of its birth. Its activities have over the years extended beyond political activism to include community security, cultural advocacy and social interventions, while its political positions have continued to attract public attention.

The 32nd Founders’ Day therefore served two purposes: to celebrate the organisation’s history and to signal its political direction as Nigeria approaches another presidential election.

For Tinubu, endorsements from groups with strong regional identities could become an increasingly visible feature of the 2027 political landscape as parties and aspirants seek support across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones.

The OPC endorsement does not determine the outcome of the election, but it provides the President with the backing of an organisation that has maintained a prominent place in Yoruba political and cultural discourse for more than three decades.

With the 2027 contest still ahead, Afolabi’s pledge suggests that the Fasehun-led faction intends to convert that historical identity into active political support once the campaign season gathers pace.

Also read: Atiku Questions Tinubu Over ₦600bn Cash Transfers

The immediate test, however, will be whether the organisation can translate its declaration into broad-based grassroots mobilisation and whether its appeal for regional support resonates beyond its traditional constituency.