• Your tenure represents dark page in Osun’s socio-political history, gov tells Oyetola
• Accord Party faction picks Bamigbola days after Adeleke’s emergence

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, accused the state governor, Ademola Adeleke, of being jittery and restless over the emergence of Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji as the governorship candidate of the party during a consensus primary election held in Osogbo, the state capital.

However, while reacting to a statement by Adeleke’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, containing an opinion poll of netizens favouring Adeleke’s re-election, Director of Media and Information of APC in Osun State, Kola Olabisi, said the governor was nervous over Oyebamiji’s candidacy.

The APC contended that it is laughable that “Adeleke continues to engage on the mundane issues that further registered his lack of what is required to give quality governance to the people of the state.”

“Governor Adeleke should realise that the people of the state, who cannot continue to be taken for granted by his gaffe, ridiculous public appearances and abysmal performance in the public office for the past three years, are now wiser that his best are neither desirable nor suitable for the required tools to effectively transform the state.

“The influenced and skewed netizens on the social media being bandied by the governor as being the voices of the independent-minded people asking for his re-election are nothing but a charade, which is not capable of conferring any added advantage on his k-legged aspiration,” Olabisi stated in statement.

Meanwhile, Adeleke, yesterday, chided his predecessor and the current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, saying that his tenure as the governor of Osun State between 2018 and 2022 represented a dark page in the state’s socio-political history.

Adeleke said that with the collective will of the people and Almighty God’s might, he would defeat the governorship candidate of the APC, Oyebamiji, popularly known as AMBO, during the forthcoming August 8, 2026, gubernatorial election in the state.

In a statement by his Spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, the governor, apparently reacting to a statement credited to Oyetola, who expressed hope that the APC will win next year’s election, described the minister’s hope for victory as “wishful thinking, illusory grandstanding and a failure to accept the deep level of unpopularity of APC among the people of Osun State.

He maintained that the populace would never allow the APC to return to power.

However, four days after Adeleke emerged as the governorship candidate of the Accord Party (AP), a faction in the party held its own governorship primary where another candidate, Clement Bamigbola, emerged.

In a fresh twist, yesterday, 300 delegates of the party across Osun State elected Bamigbola after a voice vote during the exercise held at Regina Suite, Osogbo.

In his reaction at a media briefing after the factional primary, Chairman of the Accord Party, Victor Akande, described the exercise as a “joke of electoral sabotage in Osun State.”

Akande added that the primary is “an unlawful political charade being orchestrated by some persons unknown to the Accord Party in Osun State.”

He said that “all the actors being named in the end-of-year comedy, including one Fanibe and Bamgbola, are not known members of the Accord Party.

He declared that Adeleke is the duly nominated and lawful governorship candidate of the party in Osun State.

Contrastingly, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Osun State has said that it was not informed of another primary reportedly conducted by a faction of the Accord Party (AP) in the state.

INEC’s Public Relations Officer in the state, Musa Olurode, said the Commission was unaware of the parallel exercise.

“We have monitored the only Accord Party primary a few days ago. The report has been submitted. INEC is not aware of any other party’s primary,” Olurode said.

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, had last Wednesday emerged as the party’s governorship candidate for next year’s election.

Adeleke was the only aspirant in that primary, also held in Osogbo.

Secretary of the electoral committee, Abdulazeez Salaudeen, while announcing the result of the primary, said Adeleke polled 145 votes out of 150 delegates drawn from the state’s 30 local councils.

Five votes were voided.

“The electoral committee has delivered on its mandate. After voting and counting witnessed by the agents of the candidate and the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, having the highest number of votes, I declare Senator Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke as the winner of the primary,” Salaudeen said.