local government election of 1996 and later co-founded the UNP before its fusion with UNC to form UNCP. He participated in the Ogbomoso Federal Constituency (One) primary election of the UNCP in 1997. He contested and won the chairmanship seat of the Ogbomoso North Local Government along with seven councilors under the platform of APP in 1998. He was elected the vice-chairman of ALGON, Oyo State Chapter between 1999 and 2002. Alao-Akala founded the Ogbomoso Unity Forum, a political association which later joined the PDP. He was the Chairman of Ogbomoso North Local Government from 1999 to 2002. Alao-Akala served as the Deputy Governor of Oyo State from May 2003 to January 2006. Following the impeachment of then incumbent Governor Rashidi Ladoja, Alao-Akala was sworn into office in January 2006 and served for 11 months. In December 2006, the impeachment was overturned by the Supreme Court and Rashidi Ladoja was reinstated. Alao-Akala contested and won the gubernatorial election in 2007 under the platform of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and became the Executive Governor of Oyo state, serving a full term till May 2011. On 8 December 2014, Otunba (Dr) Adebayo Alao-Akala defected to the Labour Party in Oyo State from the People's Democratic Party (PDP). On 10 December 2014, he formally declared his intention to re-contest the gubernatorial election of Oyo State on the platform of the Labour Party in the February 2015 general elections in Nigeria. During his declaration of intent, all other party gubernatorial aspirants stepped down for him, thereby making him emerge as the Labour party's gubernatorial flag bearer in Oyo State. On 16 December 2017, he defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in a huge ceremony in Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State. In October 2018, Alao-Akala defected to the Action Democratic Party (ADP) where he won the gubernatorial ticket to contest the office of Governor of Oyo state in the 2019 general elections (alongside Prof. Abideen Olaiya as Deputy Governor candidate). After 23 February 2019 Presidential and National Assemblies Elections, Akala defected back to the All Progressive Congress, thereby stepping down in the race to become Governor of Oyo state under the Platform of the Action Democratic Party. Personal life and death Alao-Akala was a polyglot who spoke English, Yoruba, Hausa and Ghanaian languages (Tiv, Fanti and Dagbani) fluently. He had seven children, and died on 12 January 2022, at the