As the controversy over the rumoured defection of Adeleke to the APC festers, a group within the party, identified as the Osun APC Youths Liberation Movement, has chided Iyiola Omisore for describing Adeleke as a political “orphan” desperately seeking re-election.
The group contended that if the governor switches camp to APC, the development would boost the party’s electoral chances ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial poll.
Omisore, while appearing on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Wednesday, described the governor as an orphan seeking refuge in the APC to fulfil his second-term ambition. He said the governor couldn’t have defected to the APC through social media.
“All politics is local. I have never seen a governor trying to bulldoze his way into another party,” he said. Omisore, who was also a deputy governor of Osun, added that neither the party leadership nor the elders’ caucus was aware of the governor’s plans.
But the state’s Coordinator of the group, Ajasa Oluwaseun, alongside other state executives, during a media briefing at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Correspondents’ Chapel in Osogbo, yesterday, emphasised that Adeleke’s political strength and influence could not be downplayed, considering his impressive electoral history and growing popularity across the state.
He also contended that Adeleke’s defection to the APC would be a significant political gain for the progressive family in the state and a strategic move ahead of the 2027 general elections.