The Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, is allegedly being blocked by stalwarts of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from defecting to the party.
According to sources who spoke to Daily Sun, party stalwarts, especially the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, are stopping Adeleke from joining the APC.
The aforementioned publication claimed that Adeleke’s elder brother, Deji, has been involved in talks with the APC. They reportedly offered to deliver Osun State to President Bola Tinubu in 2027 in exchange for his support, unlike in 2023, when Atiku Abubakar won the state.
However, sources revealed that APC stakeholders in Osun have expressed distrust over the Adeleke family’s promises due to a past breach of agreement and have told the presidency that it can win the state without needing the governor’s defection
The source said that during the PDP’s Sheriff/Makarfi faction crisis, Senator Iyiola Omisore, who was then in the legally recognised Sheriff faction, supported Adeleke, who was in the Makarfi faction, for a Senate seat but Adeleke was said to have reneged on the agreement afterwards, leading Omisore to leave for the Social Democratic Party (SDP). This breach in agreement caused Omisore to withhold support for Adeleke in the 2018 gubernatorial rerun, which contributed to the APC’s victory.
It was also gathered that part of the presidency’s plan is to get all the Southeast states to join the APC. Governors like Hope Uzodinma have been putting pressure on Governors Peter Mbah of Enugu State, Alex Otti of Abia State and Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State to join the APC.
Though the publication gathered that the Enugu governor has not given a definite answer, Soludo is not inclined to join the APC as he believes he can win on the APGA platform.