‘I won’t yield to pressure from APC Govs to dump PDP’ – Adeleke

…urges Osun voters not to be deterred by Edo, Ondo polls results

By Tunde Opalana

Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has revealed that he has been under intense pressure from his colleague governors from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to switch camp.

Adeleke, a first term governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said he is determined not to yield to such pressure either from APC governors or emissaries of President Bola Tinubu who are been rumoured to be poaching him for the president.

Daily Times gathered that Adeleke’s supporters and top notch members of the PDP in Osun State are apprehensive of deft moves by notable politicians in the South West who are on an errand for President Tinubu to woo the governor to the ruling party as part of Tinubu’s grand plot to expand his catchment areas in the South West.

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According to political calculation ahead of Tinubu’s second term bid in 2027, a near hundred percent support base in the South West is possible if Adeleke shifts ground to join APC while searching is ongoing to present an acceptable candidate that can dislodged PDP administration in Oyo State after the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde.

Tinubu”s political thinkers, it was further learnt, believed that the most difficult task ahead of total capturing of the South West for APC is to lure Adeleke out of the PDP.

Part of the bargain expected to be presented to the Ede – born governor is to assure him of getting the APC ticket to contest the 2026 Osun State governorship election.

Investigation revealed that Adeleke most days of the last week in Abuja consulting and being met by different pressure groups. This, unsettled his supporters back at home.

The Daily Times got wind of his conversation with a political ally whom he told point blank that “I am not leaving PDP for whatever reason”.

He also during the telephone conversation disclosed how his friends in the APC Governors Forum have been lobbying him to jump ship to swell the number of APC states in the country.

The Daily Times recalled that the APC national chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje last week in Abuja advanced the need for the ruling party to capture Oyo and Osun states.

Ganduje had said winning the two states will give President Tinubu a hundred percent hold on his South West base ahead of 2027 and that the APC leadership will do everything constitutionally possible to “capture Oyo and Osun states”.

Governor Adeleke at the weekend reiterated his resolve not to leave PDP.

He boldly told his supporters that the outcome of the recent governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states, notwithstanding, OSU State will remain a PDP controller state.

He spoke in Osogbo venue of a novelty football match between the state executive council and the Osun State House of Assembly in commemoration of his second anniversary in office as executive governor of Osun State.

He said, “I want to tell the people of Osun State to ignore what happened in Edo, Ondo, and what will happen in Ekiti. Let’s focus on our own Osun.

“With the way things are going, nobody will take this mandate from us. They cheated us in 2018, but I went back to God, and He told me to wait for my time, this is my time, and we have been doing wonders during my tenure.

“It is not easy to defeat an incumbent’, but they were surprised.

“The only way to appreciate the electorate and Osun people is to give them the dividend of democracy.

On his achievements in office in the past two years, he said he has been working without looking back to give the people of Osun a befitting governance and dividends of democracy.

He said “I’m the first Osun Governor who has not abandoned previous administrations’ projects. We must know that the Osun people own everything.

“Why abandon projects just because you have a new administration? Governance is a continuous process, and we didn’t withdraw any projects from contractors. Instead, we asked them to continue with quality work.”