The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke of resorting to inflammatory rhetoric and allegations against President Bola Tinubu and other party leaders out of fear of defeat in the 15 August governorship election.
The party’s reaction followed Mr Adeleke’s remarks at a campaign rally in Osogbo on Monday, where he appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the spate of violence and alleged killings in the state and warned against a repeat of the political crisis that followed the disputed 1983 election in the old Ondo and Oyo States.
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“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,” Mr Adeleke said.
“There won’t be rigging in Osun. 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.”
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But the APC National Secretary, Surajudeen Bashiru, dismissed the governor’s claims, accusing him of trying to discredit the party ahead of the election.
Mr Bashiru, in a statement on Tuesday, challenged Mr Adeleke to run an issues-based campaign if he believed his administration had performed well enough to deserve another term.
“His outburst was born out of fear of imminent defeat,” he said.
He questioned why a sitting governor would raise concerns about rigging 11 days before the poll.
“How can a sitting governor be crying over rigging in an election that is coming up in 11 days, when in politics, 24 hours is enough to change things?” Mr Bashiru asked.
The APC national secretary cited infrastructure and education as areas where he said the governor’s performance should be assessed, claiming that more than 20 roads remained dilapidated and that Osun had a teacher deficit of about 30,000.
“If such roads had been fixed, they would have boosted the economy of the state, and if that teachers’ deficit were addressed, employment would have been created while adding value to the educational sector,” he said.
APC rejects claims over allocations, violence
The APC’s Osun Governorship Campaign Council, in a separate statement signed by its Director General, Oluwole Oke, accused Mr Adeleke of making “reckless, inflammatory and seditious” remarks.
Mr Oke also rejected the governor’s allegation that the federal government was withholding allocations due to Osun’s 30 local government areas.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the legally recognised local government administration in Osun State receives the statutory federal allocations due to it every month,” he said.
He accused Mr Adeleke of attempting to portray Mr Tinubu as an enemy of Osun residents and described his comments as “another desperate strategy to demonise a genuine democrat”.
Mr Oke, a member of the House of Representatives, also turned the allegations of political violence against the governor.
He alleged that more than 30 APC members and supporters had been killed since 2022, including at least 10 recently.
“It is rather ironic that Governor Adeleke now seeks to portray himself as a victim of political intimidation when, since 2022, no fewer than 30 members and supporters of the APC have been killed,” he said.
The DG also accused the governor of protecting political thugs and facilitating the release of some individuals from correctional facilities.
He accused Mr Adeleke of failing to account for funds received by the state.
Mr Oke alleged that the governor would have to explain the use of a N2 billion Federal Government grant released in 2023 for compressed natural gas buses.
He also alleged that the state received N17 billion in ecological funds in 2024 and 2025 and referred to more than N1 trillion in revenue, which he claimed accrued to the state under Mr Adeleke.
“Every kobo belonging to the people must be accounted for in accordance with the law,” Mr Oke said.
Adeleke’s 1983 warning
Mr Adeleke’s reference to 1983 has become a major point of contention in the campaign.
The governor’s warning referred to the political crisis that followed the disputed 1983 elections in the old Ondo and Oyo States involving the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria and the National Party of Nigeria.
The crisis contributed to widespread unrest in the region and formed part of the tense political atmosphere preceding the military coup of 31 December 1983.
The APC described Mr Adeleke’s reference to the period as inflammatory and accused him of attempting to “heat the polity.”
Election rooted in 2022 contest
The 2026 election is a continuation of the political rivalry that produced the closely fought 2022 governorship contest.
Mr Adeleke, the Accord party candidate, defeated the then-incumbent APC governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, with 403,371 votes against Mr Oyetola’s 375,027, according to INEC.
READ ALSO: Osun 2026: INEC’s mock accreditation exercise records BVAS device glitches across designated polling units
The APC challenged the result in court, but Mr Adeleke retained his victory through the legal process.
Mr Oyetola is now a minister in the Tinubu administration and remains a leading APC figure in Osun.
Mr Adeleke is seeking a second term, while the APC is challenging him with its candidate, Munirudeen Oyebamiji, popularly known as AMBO.
The APC has also dismissed Mr Adeleke’s endorsement of Mr Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election as insufficient to guarantee his own re-election.
“Merely endorsing President Tinubu’s re-election is not a guarantee for the governor’s second term as he must face his political woes squarely,” Mr Bashiru said.
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