Gov. Adeleke unsure about Osun 2026 guber as PDP Crisis lingers

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, is reportedly considering an alternative political platform ahead of the 2026 governorship election following the deepening crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The development comes as factions loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, continue to battle for control of the party’s national structure, a situation that has crippled key administrative functions, including primary election preparations.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed November 24 to December 15, 2025, for political parties to conduct their primaries. However, with the PDP engulfed in leadership disputes, Adeleke may struggle to secure a valid nomination under the party.

The Nation reports that unresolved disputes over the party’s national secretary and factional leadership have stalled the nomination processes in both Ekiti and Osun states.

The PDP National Vice-Chairman (South), Engr. Kamoru Ajisafe, confirmed that the party is currently incapable of conducting any legitimate nomination exercise due to its internal crisis.

Speaking on Rave FM’s Frank Talk programme in Osun State, Ajisafe openly criticised Wike and the factional national secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, for the turmoil rocking the party.

He said the ongoing power struggle has rendered the party unable to move forward.

Ajisafe accused the FCT Minister and Anyanwu of escalating the crisis, stressing that the infighting has paralysed the PDP’s organisational capacity.

According to him, the dispute has “made it difficult to administer the party unanimously,” especially regarding candidate nomination in Ekiti and Osun states.

According to him, “I am not happy with the way things are going in the party, Anyanwu is my personal friend. Like that of Ekiti, we said we are going to do the primary we have written to INEC to monitor the exercise but the Anyanwu group wrote to INEC that there should be no primary.

“Like that of Osun State now, they gave us time for our primary which is December 15, Anyanwu was not ready to sign. So how do we move? That is an automatic ceding of the mandate of the election. Wike and Dr Ademola Adeleke met, they discussed freely only for Wike to come to national television and say that he advised the Osun Governor. What advice did he give? Adeleke told him that he had to stop all the shenanigans and requested what he wanted.”

Responding to Adeleke’s possible defection from PDP ahead of the primary, he said, “Let me tell you that if anything happens in Osun, it has to do with looking for a platform to contest, I am telling you. Where is the platform to contest now? If you are a very good party man, will you be happy losing someone like Taraba State governor, Osun state, like you rightly said he is planning, I don’t know about planning, a political platform is to contest, I am happy about that.

“But the problem we have in Osun is quite different from what we have in Taraba, election in Taraba and some other states is 2027, our own in Osun is 2026, the primary for any political party trying to present a candidate for the 2026 gubernatorial election is December 15. What is the position of INEC, what do we do, how are we going to manage that? After December 15, INEC by the constitution will not recognise any emergence of a candidate from any political primary.”

Ajisafe added that “It is absolutely known to the whole world that there is no way that the PDP would be able to nominate a candidate for the 2026 governorship election.”