How APC set trap for Osun PDP senators to defect to party ---- Gov Adeleke’s aide

Hezekiah Bamiji, a media aide to Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, says two of the state senators who recently defected from the PDP to the APC suffered “political miscalculation.”

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On Wednesday, two senators from Osun State – Francis Fadahunsi (Osun East ) and Olubiyi Fadeyi (Osun Central) – announced their defection from the PDP to the APC on the floor of the Senate.

But speaking on Thursday when he appeared as a guest on Channels TV’s The Morning Brief, Mr Bamiji said some unnamed APC chieftains had contrived speculation that Mr Adeleke was close to switching to the party in order to deceive the senators into defecting.

The media aide further argued that the senators then switched to the APC on the strength of the speculations that Mr Adeleke, a member of the PDP, had planned to defect to the APC.

“Maybe what I can say is that it (the defection) is a kind of miscalculation on the part of the lawmakers.

“The rumour perhaps overwhelmed them, thinking that the governor was coming, they felt that they were Abuja politicians and should be faster than the governor,” he said.

Mr Bamiji, however, blamed the senators for switching to the APC without consulting with the governor.

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“The governor is the leader of the party in Osun State. I felt they should have consulted with their leader and perhaps also the people in their various constituencies, but I am not sure that was done.

“Even if the governor was going to move, did they ask the governor any questions? Yes, the APC set a trap for them, and they entered,” he added.

‘Gov Adeleke lobbied to join APC but…’

Mr Bamiji, during the TV programme, claimed that contrary to speculations, Governor Adeleke never met with some APC leaders recently as part of the moves to defect to the party.

But a chieftain of the APC in Osun State, Jamiu Olawumi, who also appeared on the programme, refuted his claims.

Mr Olawumi, a special adviser on education to former governor Adegboyega Oyetola, claimed that Mr Adeleke had lobbied to join the APC, but was rebuffed by party leaders.

“The reasons for our rebuffing them are the results of our findings — civil servants who were being made second-class citizens against their counterparts from Ede were all pleading that we should not allow Governor Adeleke to come to the APC,” he said.

The APC chieftain also refuted Mr Bamiji’s claims that the two defecting APC senators fell into a trap.

He argued that two senators defected because they did not want to be part of a “mess” in Adeleke’s administration.

“The people who defected entered into a trap? No. They abandoned the PDP. Responsible leadership should thrive on integrity,” he said.

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Background

In June, speculations were rife that Governor Adeleke was close to switching to the APC.

The rumour gathered momentum after the governor, his brother Adedeji Adeleke, and their nephew, David Adeleke, Nigerian singer popularly known as Davido, paid a private visit to President Tinubu at his Ikoyi residence in Lagos on 3 June.

In response, Governor Adeleke later refuted the speculations.

The governor, in a post on his X handle after meeting with PDP leadership in the state, maintained that he remains a PDP member.

“I’m pleased to share the resolutions: I remain in the PDP, the party that gave me the platform to serve the good people of Osun.

“I have been unanimously endorsed by the Osun PDP for a second term in 2026,” he wrote on the micro blogging platform.