By Charles Olewezi
Senator Ademola Jackson Adeleke was elected Governor of Osun State for another term on Saturday, August 15. He polled a total of 511,067 votes to defeat 14 other candidates, including his closest rival, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 444,815 votes. This is his third participation in Osun gubernatorial contest, having contested in 2018 as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but lost narrowly and under controversial circumstances to Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC. Although many political analysts claimed he actually won the 2018 polls. He bounced back in 2022 but this time defeated Oyetola, the then incumbent governor, to emerge the Governor of Osun State.
The road, therefore, to re-election was supposed to be smooth, especially as an incumbent and popular governor. Fondly referred to as the ‘The Dancing Governor’ by both his friends and foes, Adeleke faced difficult challenges from all fronts.
Let’s examine some of these hurdles here:
* PDP leadership crisis: Adeleke’s problems started from his party, the PDP, which had been engulfed with the leadership crisis after the 2023 general elections. As one political commentator put it, “Governor Adeleke left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Accord Party to protect his re-election bid from being derailed by a severe, destabilising leadership crisis, and conflicting court cases at the national level of the PDP.”
The protracted internal divisions and parallel factions meant party functions and proper recognitions were constantly in dispute. Adeleke’s advisers and party loyalists feared that lingering court cases over leadership and candidate legitimacy could abruptly void or disqualify his ticket if he stayed. The chaotic environment made securing a stable platform for the gubernatorial nomination too risky as deadlines approached. Therefore, moving to an alternative platform will allow him to campaign without the constant threat of internal party sabotage or legal disqualification. He eventually moved to Accord after some power brokers in Osun APC blocked his initial plan to decamp to the ruling party.
* Court judgement deregistering Accord: Few months to the governorship polls, a Federal High Court in Kogi State gave a controversial judgement ordering the deregistration of the Accord Party and four other political parties. Many saw that judgement as another ploy by the APC government of President Bola Tinubu to kill opposition. Adeleke had described the high court decision as a violation of a subsisting order of the Court of Appeal, and an abuse of judicial process. In a statement issued then by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, Adeleke maintained that the appellate court had already directed a stay of proceedings in the matter pending the determination of an appeal, making the delivery of judgement by the lower court legally questionable. The judgement was however later quashed by the appellate court to clear the coast for Accord and four other parties to go ahead with their dealings with INEC, a great victory and relief for Adeleke.
* Withdrawal of support by factional National Chairman of Accord: Perhaps, one of the biggest and final hurdle Adeleke crossed came a few days to the election. The factional National Chairman of the Accord Party, Prof Christopher Imumolen, had announced the withdrawal of the party’s support for Adeleke, endorsing the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Oyebamiji.
Imumolen had made the declaration on Thursday at the APC Osun State Governorship Mega Rally in Osogbo, where he said the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) had resolved to support Oyebamiji. He urged members of the Accord Party across the state to vote for Oyebamiji and the APC in the August 15 governorship election. Imumolen said the decision followed the party’s inability to mobilise its members for its planned mega rally, which was suspended amid an internal crisis.
“As Chairman of the Accord Party, and with all our National Working Committee members here present, we withdraw our support for Governor Ademola Adeleke and support AMBO. All our members are enjoined to vote for AMBO and the APC in Saturday’s election,” he said.
Recall that the endorsement came a day after the Accord Party suspended its mega rally scheduled for Wednesday, August 12, 2026.
Despite this orchestrated move to stop Adeleke to return for second term, he triumphed at last at the polls, joining Rauf Aregbesola to become the second governor of Osun state to win a second term.
The federal security forces: Adeleke, from the overall result of the election, made nonsense of the plot by powers from above to use ‘Federal Might’ to win the election. A viral video had surfaced on Thursday showing police escorts and aides of Governor Monday Okpebholo in a long convoy boasting that the APC will sweep out the dancing governor. Many analysts had feared the sight of these men and other security forces in their thousands will scare away Osun voters and probably pave the way for rigging but not so. Adeleke once again came out victorious.
With this victory, Adeleke has joined the league of state Governors who had defied all odds especially from federal might and opposition to win first term election or re-election. Some of them include: Senator Theodre Orji of Abia State (2011), Mr Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State (2014), Mr Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State (2007), and Chief Rochas Okorocha of Imo State (2011).