Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s recent appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today has drawn fresh attention to his relationship with Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, widely known as BTO, ahead of Ondo’s 2027 political cycle.
Speaking with host Seun Okinbaloye, Aiyedatiwa addressed the dynamic between the two APC heavyweights in notably formal terms, framing their relationship around party structure rather than personal closeness.
“He is a member of my party,” Aiyedatiwa said of Tunji-Ojo, adding that he is a minister and “we are all APC.”
The governor went further, stressing his constitutional authority within the state and essentially describing himself as governor and Tunji-Ojo as one of his subjects.
That phrasing has attracted some scrutiny. Rather than speaking to personal affinity, the governor centred his answer on offices and obligations, a choice some observers read as significant given the political stakes involved.
Aiyedatiwa was equally direct when dismissing concerns about the African Democratic Congress gaining ground in Ondo, questioning whether the party’s emergence carried any real electoral weight. According to him, politics is a game of numbers, so until ADC actually controls stuff, it will not be treated as a credible threat to established structures.
Meanwhile, both Aiyedatiwa and Tunji-Ojo hold significant power within Ondo’s APC. Aiyedatiwa commands the state’s executive machinery and civil service, while Tunji-Ojo brings federal backing and what party loyalists describe as a formidable grassroots network built around his home base.
A Federal High Court ruling has already found Aiyedatiwa ineligible for another term due to constitutional limits, intensifying succession conversations within the party well ahead of 2027.
Grassroots mobilisation tied to Tunji-Ojo, including the BTO Unit-to-Unit movement, has added to speculation about a quiet rivalry, even as both camps publicly insist the relationship remains cordial.
Whether Aiyedatiwa’s remarks are simple facts about political institutions or something closer to a cooling relationship remains, for now, a matter of interpretation rather than confirmed fact.