A member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Olu Alabi, has called on President Bola Tinubu to quash the alleged plan of manipulating the 2026 governorship election in Osun State to favour the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He stated that Osun is not Edo State that the President could “pocket.”
The elder statesman made this known while saying the much-touted ‘Osogbo agenda’ that seeks to promote the emergence of an Osun State Governor from Osogbo, the state capital, can wait till the incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke completes two terms of office.
The BoT member disclosed this while speaking on a radio programme monitored by our correspondent in Osogbo on Monday.
Alabi, an indigene of Osogbo, said he was aware that some fellow indigenes of the state capital have started canvassing that it is the turn of an Osogbo indigene to govern the state because none from the ancient city has ever been elected governor, but noted that it is not yet time to give the agenda any serious attention.
He recalled how he contested for the gubernatorial position in 1999 but garnered scant votes in Osogbo when compared to other towns.
Alabi, one of the founding fathers of the PDP, asked advocates of the agenda to allow Adeleke to complete a second term, and that such an agenda would be looked into thereafter.
“I was the first person from Osogbo to contest for governorship, but I knew the votes I had, even the Ijesa people voted for me more than my Osogbo people,” he said, acknowledging that “there is an Osogbo agenda, but we should allow Adeleke to complete his second term.”
According to him, he never supported Adeleke’s governorship bid in 2022 because he thought the governor would not deliver.
He, however, expressed surprise that Adeleke performed beyond his expectations, a development that won his heart to support him.
The octogenarian medical doctor of so many years standing said, “I did not support Adeleke because I thought he would not perform, but his achievements have changed my mind. He will get a second term. Ademola Adeleke is here to reform Osun, not to destroy it.”
While enumerating Adeleke’s achievements, Alabi stated, “You will think you are in New York when you see Osogbo at night.”
He then called on President Bola Tinubu not to dabble in the electoral affairs in Osun ahead of the forthcoming poll, saying any efforts to manipulate the election would be resisted by the people of Osun.
“Don’t do Edo formula for us here, we are entirely Osun. Tinubu should not torment us. Osun is not a state you can pocket,” Alabi said.