The Osun State chapters of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party are engaged in a war of words over the rumoured defection plan of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
The APC said Adeleke was rejected because he would be a liability and would hurt the integrity of the party.
But the PDP, which insisted it would not join issues with the opposition party, said Osun people would decide and defend their votes in 2026.
Kola Olabisi, spokesperson for Osun APC, in a statement on Wednesday, recalled that a caucus in the Osun PDP, in a communique signed by Adeleke and 27 other chieftains of the party, decried the resistance against the planned defection of the governor to the national ruling party.
“We state first of all that the highly informed Osun State public, who are aware that it was the fear of the impending 2026 election defeat that motivated the governor to desperately seek in our party an asylum for his political survival in 2026, are excited about the measured treatment meted to the Osun State governor and his desperate party men.
“Those who rejected the defection of Adeleke to the APC knew the intention was deceptive and was solely because of the troubled re-election bid of the governor, having regard that the same PDP is daily recruiting canvassers and opinion moulders to tarnish the image of President Tinubu on the radio and television in the state, while he is all over Abuja pretending to be friends of the President.
“You cannot be criticising, rubbishing and abusing the national leader of our party, President Bola Tinubu, at the corners of the state and at the same time be putting up a friendly posture, all in the interest of your desperate re-election bid which has hit the rock before the election proper,” Olabisi said.
Reacting, the Osun PDP chairman, Mr Sunday Bisi, said his party remained focused on the people and was not seeking to import fake voters and rig the 2026 election as being plotted by the opposition.
“The party declared that its position on the 2026 and 2027 race remains sacrosanct, even as it noted that the Osun people have the records of performance of all parties and will make their choice.
“We won’t join issues with the opposition. We have no plan to rig the 2026 election. We are sure Osun people will vote for PDP and stand by their votes next year.
“Our records of good performance speak for us,” he said.
Bisi also said Osun PDP remained a solid platform, insisting that Adeleke would be victorious in the 2026 governorship election.
He assured party members that through their support, President Bola Tinubu would also win his re-election.
Amid a gale of defections ravaging the PDP in Osun State, 25 lawmakers elected on the platform of the party have pledged their loyalty to the governor.
The members also dismissed rumours purporting that they may also dump PDP, saying they had all resolved to work for the PDP and Adeleke’s victory in the next governorship poll.
At the last count, five federal lawmakers from Osun elected on the PDP platform had resigned their membership of the party.
The member representing Oriade/Obokun Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Oluwole Oke, was the first to resign from PDP.
Senator Francis Fadahunsi, representing Osun East and his colleague, Olubiyi Fadeyi, representing Osun Central, also resigned their PDP membership.
On Wednesday, letters of resignation of Abimbola Ajilesoro, representing Ife Central/East/North/South in the House of Representatives and his counterpart, Sanya Ominrin, representing Ijesa South Federal Constituency, were obtained by The PUNCH, fuelling insinuations that some state lawmakers may also follow suit.
Dispelling the rumour while addressing journalists in Osogbo on Wednesday, the Speaker, Mr Adewale Egbedun, declared that the 25 lawmakers would not abandon the PDP.
He stated readiness to work towards bringing the only APC members in the House into the PDP fold, to further strengthen Adeleke’s chances in the next governorship poll.
“The 25 members of the Osun State House of Assembly elected on the platform of the PDP are united, loyal and fully committed to the government of Governor Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke and to the party that brought us here, which is the PDP.
“There is no division in this House. There is no defection. There is no crisis. The rumours flying around are simply rumours, and we are not in the business of chasing shadows.
“We, the honourable members, are men of honour. We are not for sale. We are not moved by noise or pressure. We hold the mandate of our people and we intend to keep that trust with dignity, loyalty and a clear conscience,” he said.
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