The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has dismissed claims by former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola that the Presidency pressured the incumbent Governor, Ademola Adeleke, to defect to the national ruling party.
In a statement signed by the party’s spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, obtained in Osogbo on Thursday, the Osun APC said Oyinlola made the claim during a feature on Arise Television last Sunday, alleging that Adeleke had broken down in tears over purported pressure from the Presidency.
The APC described Oyinlola’s assertions as “at variance” with Adeleke’s position, insisting that the incumbent had attempted to defect to the APC but was “met with a brick wall.”
“It was in the public domain how Adeleke was moving from pillar to post in order to join our party without an iota of luck. It would not be difficult to believe that Adeleke was only overpricing himself by dropping the names of some people as putting pressure on him,” the statement said.
The party challenged Adeleke to “disclose the identities of the faceless entities” allegedly pressuring him to join the APC, describing the claims as a “mere fabrication” with no reports of coercion of any governor to defect from any quarters.
Urging the public to disregard the alleged coercion, the APC added: “It is preposterous for anyone to blame our party for the current debilitating plight of the PDP in Osun State in particular and the nation in general.”
The statement reignites debate over the long-rumoured plan for Adeleke to join the APC, which had circulated for months before the INEC timetable for the Osun governorship poll was released. Media aide Olawale Rasheed repeatedly dismissed the speculation.
According to the APC, Adeleke was rejected because he would have been “a liability” and potentially hurt the party’s integrity. The PDP, however, maintained that Osun people would decide and defend their votes in 2026.
Olabisi recalled that a caucus in the Osun PDP, in a communique signed by Adeleke and 27 party chieftains, had decried resistance against the governor’s planned defection.
Reacting, Osun PDP Chairman Sunday Bisi said the 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.”
