By Caleb Ishaya with agency report
Two members of the House of Representatives from Osun State, Bamidele Salam and Oluwole Oke, have clashed over claims that the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, is lobbying Governor Ademola Adeleke to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of the 2026 elections.
The controversy was reignited following reports suggesting that Governor Adeleke had considered switching to the APC, but later backed out.
Salam, who represents Ede South, Ede North, Egbedore and Ejigbo Federal Constituency, dismissed the claim in a Facebook post, stating that it was actually the APC leadership that was courting the governor.
“Governor Adeleke has never expressed intention to move to the APC; rather, it is the top leaders of the party asking him to come and he has consistently told them no,” he said.
In contrast, Oke, who recently defected from the PDP to the APC and represents Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency, rebuffed the idea that the APC is begging Adeleke to join.
“How can APC leaders at the centre be alleged to be begging Governor Adeleke to join the party? That is a lie from the pit of hell,” he said.
The exchange has stirred political tension in Osun State ahead of the next gubernatorial election.
“If I were Governor Adeleke, I would summon courage and fight the ruling government like former Governor Rauf Aregbesola did in 2014 and face the consequences in 2026. It is either I win or I lose. Adeleke, after all, must not come back in 2026. He has made his name as the governor of Osun State,” he stated.
Earlier, APC, in a statement, slammed Salam, noting that the lawmaker is not being alive to contemporary happenings in his party.
“We may excuse the ignorance of Salam as the position he is occupying necessitates him to, at least, voice out a statement to show his continuous allegiance to the country home where rests the absolute authority for his reelection in the next dispensation.
“How on earth would the leadership of the thriving APC, which is in total control of the administration of all the local government council s and had successfully harvested the leading lights in the PDP, be begging the head of such rudderless government to join our party? It does not add up.
“The crux of the matter is that the perplexed and visibly confused Adeleke has been running helter-skelter from Osogbo to Abuja to Lagos to London to America to Canada to Dubai to France to defect to our party without luck,” APC said.
