Anxiety in Osun APC, PDP over Adeleke’s defection plan

An atmosphere of fear and anxiety has enveloped the camps of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State over Governor Ademola Adeleke’s alleged plan to defect from the PDP to the APC, investigations by Business Hallmark has shown.

Many of Adeleke’s close associates, including appointees, confided in this medium that the governor had nearly perfected the defection plan.

While the development has sent jitters into the APC, with an anti-Adeleke protest staged on Friday, the governor, in a statement by his spokesman, Olawale Rasheed, disclaimed harbouring such a plan.

The defection rumour began in June when Adeleke visited President Bola Tinubu in his Bourdillon, Lagos home.

The Osun governor was accompanied by his billionaire businessman brother, Adedeji Adeleke, and Afrobeat star nephew, David Adeleke, aka Davido.

The meeting was revealed in an X post by Tinubu’s Special Assistant on Social Media, Dada Olusegun.

Though Olusegun did not reveal the reason for the visit, tension erupted within both the Osun PDP and APC camps when photographs from the visit appeared on social media, showing the President and his wife in close shots with the Adelekes.

After a brief lull, the defection rumour resurfaced during the week following a series of posts made by the governor’s aides on social media.

Insiders in the governor’s cabinet, including a commissioner and two special advisers, told our correspondents that Adeleke had concluded plans to join the APC.

The commissioner, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Adeleke had briefed some of his allies in his cabinet and the House of Assembly about his defection plan.

“Mr Governor will join the APC, but the official declaration will not be now. His planned defection is a result of political threats, the Federal Government withheld local government funds, and there are emerging threats to the businesses of his billionaire brother, Dr Deji Adeleke. So, there are many things at stake,” he said.

A senior official of the APC in the state also confirmed that the governor was consulting with APC leaders, but said his fate hangs on Tinubu’s move.

“Adeleke has been consulting many APC leaders. He has employed some mercenaries to lobby the President. But Baba Bisi Akande and Oyetola have not consented to his defection. The President will need to convince them before the governor will declare his defection,” the APC official told our correspondent on Thursday.