Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has time and again promised one thing odd for an opposition governor: his toughen for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027. The dedication has held stable via political crises and a governorship election of his personal.
In March 2026, Adeleke mentioned turbulence round Osun’s native govt construction would no longer exchange his previous determination to again Tinubu. After successful re-election in August, he reaffirmed that toughen, describing the President as a son of Osun.
He has since long gone additional, telling APC Nationwide Secretary Ajibola Basiru in Osogbo that he does no longer make empty guarantees and urging Osun politicians to set variations apart for Tinubu’s receive advantages.
Adeleke frames the alliance round regional team spirit, arguing that the South-west must unite at the back of Tinubu, a Yoruba president, to maximize the area’s political affect heading into 2027.
He additionally ties the connection to sensible positive factors, crediting Tinubu with increasing federal allocations to states and linking his cooperation to the of entirety of initiatives just like the Ibadan-Ile-Ife-Ilesa Limited-access highway.
Critics see one thing much less flattering within the association. Adeleke campaigned actively in opposition to Tinubu in 2023 below the PDP banner, and a few now name his reversal opportunistic fairly than principled.
To people, this can be a deeper betrayal. Osun elders and grassroots stakeholders have cautioned that an opposition governor’s number one loyalty must relaxation with the citizens who elected him, no longer with the presidency he as soon as campaigned in opposition to.
There may be a structural worry. Political analysts warn that after opposition governors endorse ruling-party applicants, it fractures coalitions and weakens the tests a functioning multi-party democracy relies on.
Adeleke’s endorsement stays, for now, a commentary fairly than a marketing campaign. Whether or not he mobilises his political construction at the back of Tinubu, and whether or not Osun’s voters follows him there, will most effective change into transparent as 2027 approaches.