Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke and the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, have exchanged accusations over the credibility of the August 15 governorship election in the state.
The disagreement followed comments by Oyetola, a former Osun governor and All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain, who said Adeleke should prepare to lose the forthcoming election.
Oyetola made the statement on Saturday while addressing APC stakeholders and supporters in Osun State as the party intensified its campaign ahead of the poll.
He maintained that Adeleke’s endorsement of President Bola Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election would not prevent the APC from reclaiming the Osun governorship seat.
Speaking in Yoruba, Oyetola said, “They realised that they are already losing out. Then they claimed to have endorsed us. He almost cried. Endorsement cannot retain this seat for you. We are taking it over.”
The former governor added, “If you like, make 10 endorsements, we will collect this one from you.”
Adeleke, however, interpreted the statement as a threat to the conduct of the governorship election, accusing the APC of preparing to manipulate the process.
The governor’s position was contained in a statement issued on Sunday by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, in which Adeleke urged democracy advocates and relevant authorities to take note of Oyetola’s remarks.
Adeleke said the people of Osun would resist any attempt to interfere with their constitutional right to freely elect their preferred candidate during Saturday’s election.
He also defended his endorsement of Tinubu, arguing that it demonstrated his political strength and ability to mobilise support for the President ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
According to Adeleke, Oyetola’s actions were hurting the APC’s standing in Osun and affecting the image of the President.
He said, “A serving minister of the Republic had made an open threat against a free and fair election.
“The minister has personally confirmed all previous reports that Osun APC has lost the electoral confidence of the people and is therefore focused only on rigging next Saturday.”
Adeleke declared, “As for us, we are winning this election by the grace of God and mass support of the people. We are not going to snatch the democratic rights of the people as Mr Oyetola had threatened. We will be re-elected by the choice of the voters.”