I’m not joining ADC, Adeleke declares

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has dismissed insinuations that he was planning to join the African Democratic Congress.

The governor, who made this known in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, obtained in Osogbo on Wednesday, described the report purporting he was planning to join ADC as “A calculated attempt by those afraid of the Governor’s soaring acceptability to create confusion and uncertainty in the minds of the people of Osun state.”

ValidViewNetwork reports that Adeleke had previously been said to be considering defecting to the All Progressives Congress.

As if to lend credence to the rumour, Adeleke and the leadership caucus of PDP also declared support for the reelection of President Bola Tinubu in the year 2027.

The move, however, fell through, with Adeleke saying some forces prevented him from joining the APC.

Subsequently pledged to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party and contest the next governorship poll on the platform of the party.

Recently, fresh insinuations, however, emerged that Adeleke was planning to join ADC, due to the disagreement between the two contending forces fighting over control of the national leadership of the PDP.

But while reacting to the insinuations in the statement, Adeleke’s spokesperson further said, “Our attention has been drawn to a report that Governor Ademola Adeleke is planning to join the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

“The report is not only untrue but we want to reiterate for the umpteenth time that Governor Adeleke remains committed to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and has no plan whatsoever to join the ADC or any party for that matter.”

Restating Adeleke’s commitment to providing responsible leadership for the state, the statement further read, “Governor Adeleke’s pre-occupation at the moment is the continued delivery of dividends of democracy to Osun people who resoundingly gave him their mandates three years ago.

“Even more, Governor Adeleke and leaders in the PDP have been focused on galvanising the structures of the party for the ongoing voter registration ahead of next year’s election, which he is well-positioned to win.

“Those behind the latest round of misinformation are trying to latch onto the huge goodwill that Governor Adeleke enjoys with the Osun people to sway support. The series of unsolicited endorsements of Governor Adeleke is rattling those afraid of the will of the people.”

The statement urged the public to discountenance any report linking Adeleke with a defection move, enjoining members of the public not to succumb to the fake news millers and instead, focus their efforts on mobilising votes for his re-election bid under the PDP.

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Osun PDP has been struggling with loss of members to APC, since the lawmaker representing Oriade/Obokun Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Wole Oke, dumped the party for the national ruling party.

Two PDP Senators representing Osun East and Osun Central in the Senate, Adenigba Fadahunsi and Olubiyi Fadeyi, followed suit and joined the APC.

Not long after, Taofeek Ajilesoro (Ife Central/Ife East/Ife North), and Olusanya Ominrin (Atakunmosa West/Atakunmosa East/Ilesha East) also dumped PDP.

Apart from the leadership crisis, the defectors also highlighted the need to align forces with President Bola Tinubu to deliver the dividends of democracy to their respective constituents.