Osun election: APC tackles Adeleke, demands issues-based campaign
By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: The ruling All Progressives Congress APC has told Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, to stop blaming President Bola Tinubu and immediate past governor Adegboyega Oyetola for his political troubles, urging him instead to run an issue-based campaign ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
National Secretary of the APC, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru, gave the charge in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, reacting to comments Adeleke made at a campaign rally accusing Tinubu and Oyetola of being responsible for developments working against him in the state.
The Osun governor had alleged that extrajudicial killings were taking place in the state and warned of a repeat of the 1983 political crisis should he lose the election.
“President Bola Tinubu, something is happening in Osun that you have not moved to put an end to. They are killing our people. You are the President; you are the father for all of us. Osun has said they won’t allow rigging,” Adeleke said, adding, “Remember what happened in 1983. It started in Yorubaland. When they cheated Bola Ige and Ajasin. Osun will not agree. We want a free and fair election.”
Basiru however, dismissed the claims, saying Adeleke’s outburst stemmed from fear of imminent defeat rather than any genuine grievance, and questioned why a sitting governor would be raising alarm over rigging in an election still 11 days away when, in his words, “24 hours is enough to change things” in politics
He pointed to what he described as governance failures in the state, noting that over 20 roads in Osun remained in a dilapidated condition and that the state faced a shortfall of about 30,000 teachers. He argued that fixing the roads would have boosted the state’s economy, just as addressing the teacher shortage would have created jobs and strengthened the education sector.
The APC scribe said endorsing Tinubu’s re-election bid was not, on its own, a guarantee of a second term for Adeleke, insisting the governor must confront his political challenges directly.
He said the large turnouts at rallies for the party’s governorship candidate, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, reflected the APC’s growing popularity in the state and had become a source of anxiety for Adeleke, pushing him towards what he called cheap blackmail for political sympathy.
In a separate statement issued in Osogbo on Tuesday, the Osun State chapter of the APC, through its spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, accused Adeleke of fuelling, promoting and bankrolling political violence in the state.
Olabisi said the governor’s allegations against Tinubu and Oyetola were unsubstantiated and amounted to laying groundwork for what he described as Adeleke’s imminent defeat at the polls.
He challenged the governor to explain why the state government house had allegedly become a refuge for political hoodlums wanted by the police, and why individuals he described as dangerous political thugs had reportedly been rewarded with appointments. He also questioned why, days to the election, the governor had been granting what he called undeserved and questionable amnesty to thugs serving jail terms in correctional centres across the state.
Olabisi said competition was unfamiliar territory for Adeleke, accusing him of crying political persecution without evidence, and reminded him that his endorsement of Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election did not exempt him from facing a free and fair contest in Osun.
“Why the worry if it is true that Governor Adeleke has done well for his state, as the forthcoming 15th August, 2026 governorship election will be a yardstick to measure his claim in this regard? No one is contesting Governor Adeleke being the constitutional chief security officer of the state, while the crux of the matter is why is it that it is the same self-acclaimed state CSO that has been the architect of the series of security breaches in the state?”, he queried.