Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has repeatedly promised something unusual for an opposition governor: his support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027. The commitment has held steady through political crises and a governorship election of his own.
In March 2026, Adeleke said turbulence around Osun’s local government structure would not change his earlier decision to back Tinubu. After winning re-election in August, he reaffirmed that support, describing the President as a son of Osun.
He has since gone further, telling APC National Secretary Ajibola Basiru in Osogbo that he does not make empty promises and urging Osun politicians to set differences aside for Tinubu’s benefit.
Adeleke frames the alliance around regional solidarity, arguing that the South-west should unite behind Tinubu, a Yoruba president, to maximise the region’s political influence heading into 2027.
He also ties the relationship to practical gains, crediting Tinubu with expanding federal allocations to states and linking his cooperation to the completion of projects like the Ibadan-Ile-Ife-Ilesa Expressway.
Critics see something less flattering in the arrangement. Adeleke campaigned actively against Tinubu in 2023 under the PDP banner, and some now call his reversal opportunistic rather than principled.
To other people, it is a deeper betrayal. Osun elders and grassroots stakeholders have cautioned that an opposition governor’s primary loyalty should rest with the voters who elected him, not with the presidency he once campaigned against.
There is also a structural concern. Political analysts warn that when opposition governors endorse ruling-party candidates, it fractures coalitions and weakens the checks a functioning multi-party democracy depends on.
Adeleke’s endorsement remains, for now, a statement rather than a campaign. Whether he mobilises his political structure behind Tinubu, and whether Osun’s electorate follows him there, will only become clear as 2027 approaches.