Governor Ademola Adeleke’s resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party has opened the door for a potential switch to the Accord Party, just as the PDP named Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola its candidate for the 2026 Osun governorship election.
The governor’s decision follows months of turmoil inside the PDP, capped by a fractious national convention in Ibadan last month. In a letter dated November 4, 2025, and addressed to the PDP Ward 2 chairman in Sagba Abogunde, Ede North Local Government Area, Adeleke cited the “current crisis within the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party at the national level” as his reason for stepping away.
He expressed gratitude to the party for past opportunities, including his 2017 senatorial win and 2022 gubernatorial victory, but made no mention of his next political home. State party records show Adeleke last paid dues in June 2025, with no activity logged since the convention fallout.
That gathering at Lekan Salami Stadium on November 15 and 16 drew thousands of delegates amid rival court ordersone halting proceedings, another greenlighting them under INEC oversight.
The event produced Kabiru Turaki as national chairman and Taofeek Arapaja as secretary, but also saw expulsions of figures like Nyesom Wike and Ayodele Fayose, deepening the schisms that have bled the PDP of seven governors since early 2025.
Osun’s chapter felt the ripples: ward congresses due on November 24 and local government ones on November 29 were upended by suspensions and counter-suspensions of key officials, leaving delegate lists in limbo.
Against this backdrop, the PDP’s Osun primary pressed ahead on December 2 at Adolak Event Centre along Gbongan-Ibadan Road, despite a last-minute postponement call from state chairman Sunday Bisi the day before.
Bisi had pointed to the national disarray, including multiple lawsuits, as grounds to halt the vote, but a directive from National Organising Secretary Theophilus Shan on December 1 reaffirmed the schedule, tying it to earlier notices sent to INEC on October 28.
Election committee chairman Humphery Abba oversaw accreditation of 957 delegates under heavy police deployment and with INEC officials on hand. He confirmed two nominations on file: one from Adeleke, cleared by the screening panel on October 30 after form submissions between October 13 and 25, and the other from Adedamola.
“The party received two nominations,” Abba told reporters at the venue.
Voting wrapped peacefully, but a post-announcement scuffle erupted when Osun House of Assembly Speaker Adewale Egbedun and several lawmakers showed up, reportedly to intervene; INEC monitors defused the tension.
With 20 void votes chalked up to Adeleke’s withdrawal, Adedamola claimed 919 of the remaining tallies, sealing his flagbearing role for the August 8, 2026, poll as per INEC’s timetable.
A former House of Representatives member from Ife Federal Constituency, Adedamola—known locally as FRYO—had purchased his forms alongside the governor, but the latter’s exit left him unchallenged in practice.
Adeleke’s camp boycotted the primary entirely, underscoring a rift that traces back to his family’s long, bumpy ride in Osun politics. The Adelekes first tasted power in 1992 when Ademola’s brother, Isiaka, contested under the Social Democratic Party, only for the annulled June 12 election to upend that bid. Ademola himself jumped ship in 2018, defecting from PDP to the African Democratic Congress for a senatorial run before circling back. Accord, registered by INEC in 2006 from remnants of the Action Congress, has hovered on the fringes, mustering fewer than 5,000 votes in Osun’s 2022 race. Section 84(5) of the Electoral Act allows national executives to waive primaries for defectors in “exceptional circumstances,” a provision Accord leaders have flagged as viable for Adeleke if he crosses over.
INEC’s guidelines lock primaries between March 1 and June 30 next year, with candidate submissions due by December 15, 2025—leaving a narrow window for any Adeleke move.
State Information Commissioner Kolapo Alimi noted the governor could reveal his platform by December 12 or 13 to beat that cutoff.
As Osun’s 30 local governments gear up for voter drives and spending caps take hold, the August 2026 ballot now hints at a fractured field. Adedamola’s nod locks in one PDP lane, while Adeleke’s pivot could funnel his backers into Accord, reshaping matchups against the All Progressives Congress and others in a contest already shadowed by the state’s debt legacy and infrastructure push.
