Osun State governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, on Sunday, took a swipe at his predecessor and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, declaring that his tenure as governor in Osun between 2018 and 2022 represented a dark page in the state’s sociopolitical history.

Adeleke, who emerged as the flag bearer of the Accord Party last Thursday, emphasised that with the collective will of the people and Almighty God’s might, he will defeat the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, popularly known as AMBO, during the forthcoming 8 August 2026 gubernatorial poll in the state.
Apparently reacting to a statement credited to Oyetola, who expressed hope that the APC will win next year’s election, Adeleke, in a statement by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, declared, “I will beat Oyebamiji by the might of God and people.”

Describing 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,” the governor maintained that the populace will never allow the party to return to power.

While recalling Oyetola’s regime between 2018 and 2022 as an anti-people era in the state’s history, Adeleke accused him of presiding over a government that represented “a dark page in Osun socio-political annals, a period neither labour nor any segment of our population wants re-enacted.”
Boasting of a mass movement behind his re-election bid, the governor mocked the minister and the APC for embarking on anti-democratic activities instead of marketing themselves to the people and potential voters.

The statement further reads, “If you are sure you have the votes of the people, why are you deploying anti-democratic means to stop the unstoppable will of our people? It is shameful and reprehensible that those who claim to be popular are dead scared to face the people in a free and fair election.

“Osun citizens are enjoying a government that prioritises workers’ welfare, infrastructural renewal, healthcare delivery, education, and inclusive development, and therefore have no desire to return to the era of hardship, neglect, and anti-people policies associated with the APC’s 12-year rule in the state.
“You and your proxy, now the APC’s governorship candidate, were central figures in the mismanagement that plunged Osun State into economic distress, characterised by half salaries, mounting debts, and poor service delivery to the people. Osun will not go back to the dark days,” the statement concluded.