The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) must be hallucinating with its claim of a failed defection bid. At no time, past or present, has Governor Ademola Adeleke negotiated or considered defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The All Progressives Congress in Osun State has claimed that the state governor, Ademola Adeleke, tried to defect to their party but was prevented from doing so by a condition imposed by the national leadership of the party.
The state chapter of the APC then demanded that Adeleke retract his statement from a meeting in which he assured PDP stakeholders in Osogbo that he was not thinking about leaving the party.
However, Olawale Rasheed, the spokesperson for Adeleke, denied the allegations, saying that there was never any time that Adeleke negotiated or considered defecting from the PDP.
He dismissed as “fake news emanating from those intimidated by extraordinary performance in state leadership” the speculation that he was poised to defect to the APC.
“With such a record, he has no need to defect to secure victory in 2026. The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) must be hallucinating with its claim of a failed defection bid. At no time, past or present, has Governor Ademola Adeleke negotiated or considered defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“In over two years of governance, the Governor has not attended any meeting where defection was discussed or considered. Such an idea has never been and will never be on the table.
“A performing Governor who has achieved in under three years what the APC could not deliver in twelve, and who enjoys overwhelming support from the people, has no need for a party widely criticized and rejected in Osun due to its past failures and current disarray.
“With over 80 per cent job approval, and with visible impact across all sectors and regions of the state, Governor Adeleke was recently endorsed for a second term by Osun workers on Workers’ Day. He has no reason to join a party plagued by internal strife and leadership crises.
“We view the APC’s recent claim as a diversionary tactic aimed at masking its internal troubles. The party is reeling from self-inflicted damage, with its own members now exposing internal secrets that reflect a legacy of poor governance, divisive politics, and anti-people policies.
“Let it be put on record: Governor Adeleke’s focus remains on protecting Osun State from desperate politicians determined to destabilise the state in their bid for power. Governor Adeleke has no regrets in defeating those bent on creating anarchy. His administration will continue to prioritise stability, development, and good governance.
“We urge the Osun APC to focus on its internal implosion and face its reality. Governor Adeleke remains committed to the PDP, the platform that is lifting Osun to new heights of progress.”
In response. Osun APC said, “We wonder why Governor Adeleke could not be truthful for once by confessing to the state PDP stakeholders comprising former state Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Dr Olu Alabi, Professor Wale Oladipo, Hon Akanni Olohunwa, Mr Sunday Bisi, Rt. Hon. Adewale Egbedun, Rt. Hon Lasun Yusuf among others that his desperate attempts to defect into the potent opposition APC were unsuccessful.
“The plight of Governor Adeleke with reference to his bungled attempts to defect into the APC could be likened to a promiscuous housewife who thinks that her illicit act being perpetrated in secrecy is not known to her neighbours.
“If not so many people were not privy to how some governors in the Southwest geo-political zone and some notable millionaire industrialists were using the dead of the night to package Governor Adeleke for the failed defection exercise, his begging visit to Chief Bisi Akande in his Ibadan, Oyo State residence, is still fresh in the memory of the right-thinking members of the society.
“We wonder why Governor Adeleke failed to reveal to the PDP stakeholders that the condition given to him by the leadership of the ruling party at the national level was that he would have to queue up and that he could not be given an automatic ticket for the governorship election under the APC.”