Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has claimed that his predecessor and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, gave up his 2026 governorship ambition for fear of “another defeat.”

The governor made this known at a Townhall meeting, a live television programme organised by Arise News and monitored by our correspondent in Osogbo on Tuesday.

The television station had organised the Townhall programme for Adeleke, the candidate of Accord Party, and two of his opponents — Bola Oyebamiji, the flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress and Najeem Salaam, the gubernatorial hopeful of the African Democratic Congress.

However, both Oyebamiji and Salam were not present at the interview session monitored by our correspondent.

Fielding questions from a team of journalists during the programme, Adeleke alleged he had information from his friends in the APC that Oyetola decided to forgo his governorship ambition for a second term because the former governor did not want to contend the office with a again having being defeated in 2022.

He further claimed that the Minister is planning to sponsor Oyebamiji into office with the aim of controlling his (Oyebamiji) if eventually voted.

However, the governor boasted that he would be defeating APC and other political parties again and would emerge victorious in the Saturday’s gubernatorial election.

“Oyetola wanted to come and run for governorship but he had to drop that ambition because he doesn’t want me to defeat him again. I know this because I have a lot of friends in APC. I am sure they told him you are not going to beat Adeleke. So, he is supporting Oyebamiji so that he can control his government,” Adeleke said.