OYEBAMIJI’S ENDORSEMENT BY OYINLOLA WON’T DERAIL ADELEKE’S VICTORY — ACCORD
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By:Tajudeen Aminat
The Osun State chapter of the Accord Party has dismissed the political significance of former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s endorsement of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, saying the move would not prevent Governor Ademola Adeleke from securing re-election in Saturday’s poll.
Osun Accord Chairman, Victor Akande, made this known in a statement personally signed and obtained in Osogbo on Monday.
Akande alleged that Oyinlola, former Secretary to the State Government Fatai Akinbade and former Commissioner for Special Duties, Tajudeen Oladipo, worked against Adeleke’s emergence in the 2022 election but were unable to prevent his victory.
He described Oyinlola’s decision to back Oyebamiji as politically inconsequential, alleging that the former governor also opposed Adeleke during the 2018 and 2022 elections.
According to Akande, the trio returned to Adeleke’s camp after his victory in 2022 and benefited from his administration, only to now abandon the governor ahead of another election.
“Osun Accord remains ever strong and Governor Adeleke remains unbeatable in the forthcoming polls. Those who left have never really supported the governor in previous election battles.
“In 2018 and 2022, they voted and worked against the governor. They failed to stop the governor’s victory. After they failed, they rejoined the governor and enjoyed positive treatment from the administration whose emergence they did not support.
“As another cycle of election is knocking again, they opportunistically moved back to a party that is killing and maiming Osun people. So their movement has no political effect on the re-election of Mr Governor,” Akande said.
The Accord chairman further claimed that the defectors lacked the political influence required to sway voters in their respective local governments, arguing that Adeleke had gained widespread support for what he described as his achievements in the state.
“Go to their local governments; they lack the political capital to swing the people against a governor who is widely acknowledged locally and internationally to have positively transformed Osun State. The case of those defectors is made worse as Osun political grassroots see them as political ingrates and opportunists,” he added.
Akande urged residents to intensify grassroots mobilisation efforts towards Adeleke’s re-election, while expressing satisfaction that what he described as “fifth columnists” had left the platform.
The statement followed Sunday’s endorsement of APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State led by Oyinlola.
At the event in Osogbo, Oyinlola said the faction decided to support Oyebamiji because of what it described as a lack of inclusion in Adeleke’s administration.
Oyinlola, alongside Akinbade and former PDP National Vice Chairman, Southwest, Tajudeen Oladipo, however, maintained that the group had not left the PDP.
He said the faction adopted Oyebamiji’s candidacy after considering the decision necessary and being convinced that it would promote the progress of the state.
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