Sola Fasure, a media aide to former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, has lambasted Governor Ademola Adeleke for attacking his principal.

He described Adeleke’s allegations against Aregbesola as “a new low” and a ploy for the governor to be accepted into the All Progressives Congress (APC), which he is allegedly making moves to join.

Even though Adeleke had denied any plan to defect to the APC ahead of the 2026 governorship election, Fasure issued a Facebook post stating that the governor is not wanted in the APC.

This followed Adeleke’s revelation that Aregbesola is the worst governor Osun has ever produced.

Fasure wrote, “A new low: Attacking Aregbesola in order to be accepted by APC. I am not sure they still want you!”

Governor Ademola Adeleke had exposed the alleged fraudulent activities and corrupt practices of Aregbesola during his eight-year tenure as governor.

The allegations against Aregbesola by the governor are coming six years after he left office as the governor of Osun. The former governor is now the Interim National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Reacting to a recent threat by Aregbesola to remove him from office in the 2026 governorship election in the state, Adeleke reminded the former governor that “Osun is still suffering from the inhumane maladministration he inflicted on the state while in office.”

In a statement issued on Monday in Osogbo by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, Adeleke castigated the former governor as “a man who left a legacy of huge state debt, half salary, scam learning tablets (Opon Imon) and several fanciful, inflated, uncompleted projects,” describing his tenure as “the worst in Osun history.”

“The empty boast of Mr Aregbesola about 2026 is a symptom of a troubled mind who sees wrong vision, who is battling his benefactor and who is haunted by the pains and suffering he inflicted on millions of Osun people through his evil policies and programmes. A man who should be remorseful and tender public apologies for his years of maladministration has the audacity to threaten Governor Adeleke, who is clearing the mess he left behind after his eight years of anti-people, thoughtless leadership.

“Mr Aregbesola’s wickedness against workers, public servants, and Osun people knows no bounds while he wielded state power. A man who introduced half salary, misapplied the contributory state pension fund, and misused the state cooperative deductions fund should be ashamed of his temerity to attack a Governor who is now paying up the half salary affliction, clearing the unjustified debt and rehabilitating brutalised Osun workers.

“The Adeleke administration has paid 28 months out of the half salary left behind by Mr Aregbesola. The present administration has paid close to 60 billion naira in pension debt, a legacy of this same Aregbesola. Pensioners and workers generally are not praying for a return to the evil days of a bad administrator who left his state in ruin after eight years,” Rasheed said.

He added, “Within less than three years, Governor Adeleke has surpassed government delivery of the eight years of Mr Aregbesola without borrowing a kobo for infrastructure projects. The current administration has reduced the Osun debt left by Mr Aregbesola by 40 per cent, as confirmed by the Debt Management Office.

“Mr Aregbesola is invited to note that Governor Adeleke has constructed about 200 Kilometers of roads, rehabilitated over 200 schools and health centers, placed over 30, 000 pensioners on free health insurance care, provided critical medical surgeries to over 60,000 Osun residents, Completed several abandoned projects at Osun State University, made University of Ilesa a reality among several others.

“If Mr Aregbesola is to accuse Governor Adeleke of non-performance, we await his review of the dualisation of the palace to brewery junction at Ilesa, which he failed to achieve while in office. He should check out the flyover projects at Ile Ife and Osogbo, and the dualisation projects ongoing at Iwo, among others.

“Osun people know their present and past governors. Our people are smart enough to know that the worst era for Osun State is that of Mr Aregbesola, under whom many pensioners lost their lives, thousands of lives were disrupted, and the state plunged into unsustainable debt that is still hurting the state to date. No voter in Osun is ready for a return to the dark days.

“We therefore dismiss Mr Aregbesola’s boast as a blurry vision of another world other than Osun, where Governor Adeleke has received accolades and awards for delivering on good governance and where Osun people have appreciated the local content policy, the non-borrowing policy, and the people’s first style of the current governor.

“Mr Aregbesola is a shrew (Asin ti o mo pe ohun unrun) who does not know that he is smelling. 2026 is a payback time when Osun people will punish the former governor and his new party for wilfully inflicting pains and suffering on Osun people throughout his eight years of rule,” Rasheed concluded.

Aregbesola, a former Minister of Interior, had declared that his party, ADC, would defeat the incumbent Governor Adeleke in the 2026 governorship election.

He made the declaration on Sunday during a homecoming solidarity event in Osogbo.

He stated that his immediate political focus is not the 2027 general elections but winning the 2026 Osun gubernatorial contest for the ADC.

He hinted that the 2026 race may no longer feature three major parties, following rumours of Governor Adeleke’s possible defection to the APC.

“We are concerned about 2026 in Osun State. We have started the work for next year’s election now,” Aregbesola said, urging ADC supporters to intensify grassroots mobilisation.

“Leave them to their agitation. Our aim should be to take over Osun State before the vote on August 8, 2026. They already know they are on their way out,” he said.

Reflecting on his fallout with the APC, the party he helped build, Aregbesola lamented being pushed out despite his contributions.

He stated, “Those who know my value and worth gave me this new position, and now they are making noise. Their noise doesn’t concern me — they haven’t seen anything yet.”

Aregbesola also addressed speculations about Adeleke’s political move: “Before we started this journey, they said there would be three political parties in Osun State. It is obvious he is decamping now. We will meet in Abere — ADC will win the Osun governorship race in 2026.”

This would be the first time Adeleke would come out openly to criticise Aregbesola since he was elected governor in 2022. Since Adeleke’s emergence, the relationship between him and Aregbesola has been good until now. There had been rumours that Aregbesola directed his supporters to vote Adeleke in the 2022 governorship election, which parties denied.