The All Progressives Congress in Osun State has been vocal about the carnage unleashed on its members during the 2023 presidential election which led to the emergence of President Bola Tinubu. The party has accused Governor Ademola Adeleke and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), of being responsible for the killings of over 30 APC supporters.
Three particularly gruesome incidents stand out: the killings of Saheed Oyegunju in Ikire, Ebenezer Alaro in Ilesa, and Tunde Ejoka in Ijebu-Ijesha.
Oyegunju, an APC Ward Treasurer in Irewole Local Government Area , was kidnapped around February 23, 2023, in Ikire on his way to APC campaign when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu visited Osogbo. He was whisked away by political thugs linked to the current deputy minority leader of the Senate, Senator Lere Oyewumi. The leader of the suspected thugs was said to be Sodiq Ayewo, while the person who rode the motorcycle that was used in conveying Oyegunju to where he was probably murdered is known as Kokumo. Oyegunju's lifeless body was later found along Oosa Village via Ikire.
Alaro was a committed APC member in Ilesa and was traced home and shot dead in from of his father's house after he had participated in the early morning rally organized to drum support for presidential candidate of APC, Bola Tinubu. Tunde Oginni ( aka Bongo), a PDP thug, was arrested in connection to the murder.
Ejoka, a physically challenged APC supporter, was beaten to death with iron rods and charms for celebrating Tinubu's victory.
Till date, none of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes has been brought to justice. All the suspects interrogated and detained have since been left free in a manner that suggests the cases have been swept under the carpet. If party members, whose only offence was their love for Tinubu and their commitment to his election, were to die in vain, should it be to make their alleged killers elongate their stay in office with open connivance of the leaders of APC and allies of President Tinubu?
It is painful to note that some confidants of President Tinubu are now hobnobbing with lobbyists ostensibly on the payroll of Governor Adeleke. One of such lobbyists is an Abuja-based lawyer from Oriade Local Government of Osun who is using his closeness to Tinubu's son, Seyi Tinubu, and the EFCC's chief, Kayode Olanipekun, to appeal for soft-landing for Adeleke. They are proposing that Adeleke should be handed the APC gubernatorial ticket in 2026 to earn the support of the governor in 2027 to whittle down the political treachery gathering in the northern part of the country. The ace singer, Davido, who in the past had used his strong social media presence to cast aspersions on Tinubu, is said to be part of the plot and has now turned a new leaf, using same digital platforms to burnish the image of the president and his government.
Given the development, would Tinubu succumb to the evil machinations of the political influencers? Would he stand akimbo because of his re-election bid and allow slaughterers of his party men in Osun go scot-free?
Why is Governor Adeleke destroying the image of Tinubu in the media but in the closet running helter skelter, begging Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Governor Dapo Abiodun and Governor Jide Sanwo-olu to seek audience with the president on his behalf?
Only strangers to Osun politics would disagree that Adeleke stands low chances of coming back in 2026. Things are not looking rosy for the dancing governor. Not only has the popularity of the governor plummeted in the streets, he has also lost power to dictate the direction of his political future. Unlike in 2022 when, though in the opposition, Adeleke had under his control the federal might, courtesy some of the turncoats who were bent on tearing down the political legacy of Tinubu, Adeleke today is stripped naked, gasping for breath to survive the imminent defeat staring him in the deface. One startling incident that suggests Adeleke may not find federal power pliable was the recent insistence of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to act professional in the court of appeal judgement which reinstated local government executives elected in 2022 under the banner of APC but which Governor Adeleke sacked on assumption of office. Despite Adeleke's grandstanding, the justice minister and the police chief held that the appeal court's verdict favoured APC, thus the sacked officials should be allowed to return to office without hinderance. The governor and his devotees did not find the experience palatable, creating the monsters in them, hence calling the IGP, AGF and other rule-of-law enablers who cautioned the Osun warlords on their judicial travesty unprintable names. Until perhaps they reflected on the grave consequences of their political foolishness and began to appeal to emotions.
Adeleke is aware that without the federal support, like what was available to him in 2022, he can not scale through in 2026. The sign is ominous and palpable. His poor performance is his greatest undoing. In two years, rather than employing new teachers and health workers to replace those sacked by his administration, he is more concerned about his personal comfort and that of his acolytes. While education, agriculture, health and other key sectors of the economy are poorly funded, Governor Adeleke has succeeded in frittering almost N50 billion to maintain his office, lavishing N11 billion to purchase luxury vehicles for unproductive politicians in his coven. In the state university in Ilesa, students cough out as much as N1.5 million to settle school fees while in few of the functioning government-owned hospitals, patients pay through their noses to access medical treatment.
In the political turf, his party is depleted. Many hitherto PDP stalwarts like Prince Dotun Babayemi (who slugged the PDP ticket with Adeleke), Dr Akin Ogunbiyi (who was robbed of the PDP ticket in 2018), Chief Shuiab Oyedokun (a respected statesman and former National Deputy Chairman of PDP) as well as Hon. Kayode Oduoye ( scion of Senator Simeon Oduoye) have since left PDP in anger for reasons that Adeleke has personalized governance, converted state affairs to family matters and broken his social covenant with the electorate .
So is it because of this governor, who has lost his goodwill among the people, that some President Tinubu's men want to destroy the President's democratic credentials? Why are these men advancing to sacrifice APC governorship ticket in 2026 for Adeleke to deliver Osun votes for Tinubu in 2027?
The APC strength in Osun is grossly and annoyingly underrated. If not a truly progressive would not suggest a candidate who has become an article of laughter, an emblem of clumsiness and a troubler of APC to fly the flag of the party in the coming election.
What value would addition of Adeleke in APC make to the success of Tinubu in 2027? In 2023, even when APC members were massively murdered and the party's support base was weakened by federal apparatchik, the party put up a good showing in the presidential election, polling 343,945 votes, just 10,421 votes short of ballot announced for Atiku in the state. In this election, APC won in five of the ten local government areas in Adeleke's Osun West senatorial district. Save for Oyo, Lagos, Ondo, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger, no other states in Nigeria contributed more to the electoral victory of APC than Osun State. So why do some President's associates derive joy in scorning and disrespecting APC faithful in Osun State?
Does it not stand logic on its head that a state who gave APC the 8th best result in the 2023 presidential is what some gamers are using to negotiate 2027 re-election for Tinubu?
APC is not weak in Osun as some selfish data analysts have permuted. In fact, the party is well loved as could be attested to by the result of the governorship election in the state in 2022 where the party flag-bearer, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola polled 375,027, as against the 255,505 votes earned by the party in the previous election.
Many lovers of President Tinubu in Osun will be disappointed if the party ticket in 2026 is used to entice Adeleke in expectation for support in 2027. It will be counter-productive as many of these unapologetic supporters could vote against Tinubu in protest.
To secure support for re-election in 2027, what President Tinubu needs to do are:
1. Ensure his government finishes all the federal government infrastructural projects in Osun, including the N12 billion Eti-oni Ijesa road, N10 billion Ilesa-Akure road dualization.
2. Give life to the Court of Appeal judgement delivered in Akure on February 10, 2025 and ensure the newly reinstated chairmen and councillors of APC extraction are made to function properly.
3. Mandate the Inspector General of Police to fish out the sponsors and perpetrators of 2022 and 2023 massacre of Osun APC supporters.
4. Direct the leadership of the Military, DSS and Police to be professional and fair to all political parties just as leadership of the Independent Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC) should be encouraged to be impartial so it will not be possible a rehash of the 2022 election where Adeleke's kinsmen in Ede had a free day to vote till midnight on election day.
President Bola Tinubu is fanatically loved by his APC men in Osun; therefore the president should reciprocate the undiluted love his fans hold for him. The President should thwart the evil plot being designed in his name by stopping immediately all the political marketers and marabouts using charms and black-power to sell the oddity from Osun to his son and trusted aides.
•Muhammed, a retired federal civil servant, wrote from Saye Ward, Bichi Local Government of Kano State
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