Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Osun State is seriously working on his 2nd term bid. Time is of the essence.
The elections will hold next year, and the race for the governorship elections has already started.
The APC is not talking it easy, as the party in Osun has about 10 heavyweights preparing for the party primaries.
The game got intensified a few months back with Gov. Adeleke and his elder brother visited Pres. Bola Tinubu. That visited kick started a chain of reactions and activities, as Osun APC chieftains became uncomfortable with the visit and the rumours of Adeleke’s imminent defection to the APC.
This potential move has not been well received by senior members of OSUN APC, who believe that the governor is desperate to join APC to help his chances for a second term. They also read the situation to mean that Gov. Adeleke is afraid of defeat from APC.
City People gathered that the governor was indeed serious about joining the APC as at a few months back, as he consulted a few Osun APC chieftains who didn’t quite like the idea. During his last visit to Pres. Tinubu, he was advised to reach out to key Osun APC leaders and see how he could get their buy-in, for him to defeat to APC Gov. Adeleke has had a Gentleman’s Agreement with Pres. Tinubu to work for him during the Presidential elections, whilst he would also get the support of the President for his 2nd term.
But the big issue was: should he defect to Osun APC or stay in PDP and simply support the President.
Osun APC leaders din’t like the arrangement at all. They feel the President does not need Adeleke’s support.
A prominent member of the APC shared some insights in a popular WhatsApp group, explaining the rationale behind Governor Adeleke’s perceived desperation and concerns regarding his second-term bid. He said, “The governor is afraid because he knows he will most likely be beaten in the coming election. The Osun APC is now stronger than it was during the 2022 elections against the PDP. We have what it takes to win decisively. We have the numbers and numbers don’t lie. We have developed a strong bond within the party, and the people of the state still want us to return.”
“In Ile-Ife, discontent among residents is palpable. They have witnessed the projects the governor has undertaken in his home town of Ede but feel neglected, noting that little has been accomplished in Ile Ife. A similar sentiment is echoed in Ilesa, where the populace feels overlooked. Many believe that if the governor’s performance in his first term is any indication, his second term would be even worse”.
Indigenous residents of these towns express dissatisfaction with the current administration. In Iwo, for instance, the impact of the government is hardly seen, while projects in Ede and Osogbo capture more attention. It appears that the government is primarily focusing on Ede and Osogbo, the state capital, leaving many other significant towns and villages untouched.
Senator Iyiola Omisore, a former National Secretary of the APC recently, commented on the speculation surrounding Adeleke’s potential move to the APC.
“When you want to join a party, there must be a willing section of the party members. You must feel at home because all politics is very local. What value are you bringing to the party? In the 2022 election, the APC garnered 375,000 votes, while the PDP received 403,000 votes, with a difference of only 3.97 percent. This margin includes those who worked against the party, such as former Governor Aregbesola and other PDP leaders who have since switched to the APC.”
“For the past three years, he has been governing that state without any member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defecting to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Meanwhile, more than one-seventh of PDP members have moved to the APC, including notable figures such as Alhaji Isa Oyedokun, Dayo Babayemi, and Hon. Wole Oke, with others still coming”.
“As a governor, you are popular enough to consider joining another party”.
“Why, then, does Governor Adeleke feel the need to force himself into the APC? Why is Gov. Adeleke struggling and pleading to join the party?
For some time now, both Governor Adeleke and former Governor Aregbesola have been engaged in a war of words over the 2026 gubernatorial election in the state. The former Governor has warned the incumbent that the ADC, will dethrone him in the upcoming gubernatorial election.
A significant concern is that gubernatorial elections are highly monetized, with candidates spending billions of naira. According to information available online, reports suggest that if the federal government fails to release over 50 billion naira meant for local government allocation in the state, it will negatively affect Governor Adeleke’s bid for a second term. Allegedly, the state is relying on borrowing to execute certain projects and pay salaries. Even Chief Bode George has confirmed that the Adeleke family has been helping to bail out the state to cover workers’ salaries.
Furthermore, it has been said that the governor will need a substantial amount of money, to fund his second-term election campaign.
“As we know, local government councils in Osun State have been denied access to over 58.9 billion naira in federal allocations over the past five months due to the prolonged closure of council secretariats. According to official figures, data from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation shows that between February and June 2025, the 30 local governments in the state received a combined allocation of 58,918,119,222.80 naira. However, this money has remained effectively frozen as the councils have not been operational due to a leadership crisis that has crippled grassroots administration for months.
A breakdown of the allocation reveals that councils in the Osun Central Senatorial District received 19.52 billion naira, while those in Osun West got 19.16 billion naira, and councils in Osun East were allocated 20.23 billion naira. At the local government level, Ife East recorded the highest share with 2.37 billion naira, while Ede North received the lowest at 1.42 billion naira.
This situation has led some prominent members of the APC to believe they can defeat the PDP government in the upcoming election. Hon. Wole Oke, a member of the House of Representatives who defected from the PDP to the APC, has declared that the APC will win the 2026 governorship election in Osun State “cleanly and clearly.”
Oke also assured President Bola Tinubu of a sweeping victory in the state for the 2027 general elections, stating, “Mr. President should go to bed. Osun State is already in his kitty come 2026. By 2027, we are confident of delivering one million votes for PBAT.”
He expressed his apologies to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy and former governor of the state, Adegboyega Oyetola, for opposing his re-election in 2022. “We have tried two wives now, and we now know which one is better,” he said, symbolically referring to his return to the APC as a correction of past political misjudgments. He noted that despite the PDP’s victory in the 2022 gubernatorial election, the margin was too slim to be celebrated.”
Isaac Abimbade
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