The Osun State government has lambasted the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Umar Ganduje, over his promise to reclaim the state in 2026.
Ganduje had vowed that the APC would reclaim Osun and Oyo states after the victory of the party in Ondo State governorship election.
Reacting to the statement yesterday, spokesperson of Governor Ademola Adeleke, Olawale Rasheed, described Ganduje’s statement as anti-democratic.
He stressed that what obtains in Edo and Ondo were different from political facts on ground in Osun, saying one would have expected Ganduje to know that electoral contests depend mostly on local indexes and factors.
“If Dr. Ganduje truly loves Mr. President, why is he pushing to destabilise the president’s home zone through open threats to violate electoral law and deny the electorate their rights to vote and be voted for? By threatening to hijack opposition states, the APC leader is undermining the general consensus among Yoruba people, which accept Mr. President as their own, irrespective of political differences.
“If, however, the statement of the APC leader is borne out of ignorance, he is invited to study Osun politics to get better informed of the dynamics of this state’s politics and to appreciate that what works in Edo and Ondo cannot play out here for several reasons.
“In Osun State, the ruling party, the PDP is daily receiving thousands of defectors from the opposition parties. The PDP in Osun is already a strong mass movement which cannot be overrun by a party chairman who failed to deliver his own state and who does not have the mandate of Mr President to ignite conflict in the South West zone. The PDP in Osun State is too deeply planted to be threatened or suppressed by any electoral robber and Governor Adeleke remains an extraordinarily popular leader whose mandate now or in 2026 can not be hijacked by anti-democratic forces,” Rasheed said.
