• Gov’s action absurd, personal, not party’s decision, say George, Ojo, S’West PDP
• Farounbi says betrayal of expected PDP’s presidential candidate may work against gov
Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, and the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, have thrown their weight behind the re-election bid of President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
This is just as the governor had denied the widespread speculation of his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial election in the state.
Adeleke and PDP’s endorsement of Tinubu was contained in a communique issued after a meeting at the Government House, yesterday.The communiqué clarified that the rumoured defection of the governor to the APC did not originate from the caucus camp and that the PDP still remains a viable platform for Adeleke to secure his re-election.
“Following extensive consultations, debates, surveys, opinion sampling from traditional rulers, and others in Osun State, pertaining to recent political development in the state, the leadership caucus stated as follows:
“That all politics is local, and as such, the feelings and aspirations of voters and party members are critical to decisions on party affiliations.
“That the majority of the members of the APC in Osun State are opposed to the idea of the defection of Governor Adeleke to the APC.
“That the majority of PDP members in Osun State are not happy about the idea of the defection of Adeleke to APC, but only reluctantly agreed to follow him wherever he goes to show their love, support and loyalty to his leadership.”
MEANWHILE, a professor of Political Science at the University of Ilorin, Gbade Ojo, and the South-West caucus of the PDP have berated Adeleke for endorsing the re-election bid of Tinubu of the APC in 2027.
Reacting, Ojo, who was Chief of Staff to the late former Governor Abiola Ajimobi, said the step taken was an aberration. The professor said: “It is an aberration in a democracy. You work for a presidential candidate of another political party only if yours doesn’t have an aspirant. What a height of anti-party activity! It is politically absurd.”
Also, in a chat with The Guardian, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the South-West, Sanya Atofarati, said Adeleke was on his own. He said: “I have no reaction to that. He has fundamental rights to do what he wants. The step is personal. The step doesn’t represent the position of the PDP in the South-West.
IN the same vein, a former Nigerian Ambassador to the Philippines, Dr Yemi Farounbi, yesterday, said Adeleke might be the loser in endorsing Tinubu’s re-election bid if he (governor) did not seal a concrete agreement with the President before the public announcement.
Farounbi, who also hails from Osun State, said the declaration would gladden Tinubu, noting that the state would be critical to his victory in 2027.
The elder statesman, however, warned that the step of the governor might boomerang if there was no proper agreement reached with the President, saying that concurrence and an assurance of reciprocal support was very important.
ALSO, former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Bode George, has distanced the party’s national leadership from the recent endorsement of Tinubu’s re-election bid by Adeleke, and the state chapter of the PDP.
George, while speaking ahead of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for tomorrow, declared that the PDP remains firmly opposed to Tinubu’s re-election in 2027, maintaining that the President is “a bad product” that Nigerians must reject at the next polls.
According to him, the PDP is determined to present a “viable and formidable candidate” capable of dislodging Tinubu from Aso Rock by May 29, 2027.
He said that Adeleke might have been pressured into backing Tinubu due to mounting federal constraints on his administration, including the alleged withholding of Osun’s local allocations.
