Adeleke Blocking Us From Presenting Candidate, Says PDP Chieftain

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Umar Sani, has accused the Osun state Governor, Ademola Adeleke, of trying to stop the party from presenting a candidate ahead of the coming governorship election.

Recall that Adebayo Adedamola on Tuesday emerged as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the Osun 2026 election.

However, despite announcing his resignation from the party, the name of the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke appeared on the ballot paper for the PDP governorship primary.

The Secretary of the Committee in charge of the primary, Sunday Solarin, had announced the start of voting shortly after accreditation of delegates ended around 11:35 AM.

Solarin said Adeleke and Adebayo Adedamola were the two aspirants seeking the party’s ticket, adding that Adeleke had already resigned from the party.

He further explained that votes cast for Adeleke would “eventually amount to waste,” urging delegates to follow instructions during the voting process

Speaking on ARISE NEWS on Friday, Sani said the governor’s recent actions are meant to protect his own political future, not the future of the PDP.

“Governor Adeleke does not want PDP to field a candidate. He believes that there is a problem within the PDP, whose signature will be recognised by INEC and so forth and so on.

“He’s trying to move to another party, and according to him, he will get the seat and then return back to PDP. And PDP says, no, we cannot do that. What we want is somebody to run on our platform.

“Because what will the party look like if we have a platform and we do not use anybody on that platform? Then how will other people be reacting to other platforms? They will run away and give the same excuse.

“Let me go and get something from somewhere else and come back. We said, no, anybody who wants to contest must use our platform. The elections were fairly conducted, it was not hijacked by anybody, it was all over the social media, it was done peacefully,” he said.

Responding to arguments that Adeleke might be acting wisely because of the uncertainty over which PDP faction INEC may recognise, Sani agreed that the governor has the constitutional right to defect but must not block the party from presenting its own candidate.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m not supposed to support or oppose his decision. His decision is entirely his. He who wears the shoe knows where it pinches most.

“So if he decides to go, then he should allow the party that he’s leaving, field another candidate in his own place.

“Nobody is saying he cannot go. It’s a constitutional right for him to go anywhere he wants to go. But let him not also be a stumbling block to our own party fielding a candidate.

“That is just the major argument. It is not about whether his going is right or wrong or whether it was a smart move to move somewhere else,” he explained.

He also reacted to claims that the PDP may be using a placeholder until the crisis over party leadership is resolved. He confirmed that the party already has a candidate who emerged from its primaries. However, substitutions can still be made within the allowed time.

“As it is now, we have a candidate. But a candidate can be a placeholder and a placeholder can be a candidate. So in any case, there is a period where we are allowed to make substitutions.

“So if we want to make substitutions, we can make substitutions. But as it is now, we have a candidate who has emerged from the primaries,” he said