The Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, has said Governor Ademola Adeleke is still consulting on which political party he will contest the state’s 2026 governorship election.
Mr Alimi made the disclosure while speaking with journalists on Tuesday in Osogbo.
Mr Adeleke, in the early hours of Tuesday, announced his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party, citing persistent leadership turmoil at the party’s national level.
Mr Adeleke made this known in a letter dated November 4 addressed to the chairman of the party in Sagba Abogunde, Ward 2, Ede North Local Government Area of the state.
The commissioner, however, said that the governor would announce his next political party before the December 13 deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of party primaries.
He said, “The deadline of INEC for political parties to conduct their primaries and submit the names of candidates is December 15, so the governor still has time to choose a new party. It is unfortunate that the crisis rocking the national body of the PDP is why the governor is planning to join a new party—not to get caught up in the web of the crisis.’’
Mr Alimi added that if the governor chooses to remain in the PDP for the 2026 election, his nomination will have to be signed by the national chairman and secretary of the PDP.
According to him, if a particular factional chairman and secretary of the PDP signed the nomination form submitted to INEC by the governor, and, in the long run, the court rules that they are not the authentic, then the governor’s nomination will be invalidated.
He, however, said that whichever political party the governor decides to join for the election, his supporters, party loyalists, and the people of the state were ready to follow him.
Mr Alimi said what would be needed was to enlighten the state electorate on the new political party the governor is contesting on and how to vote for him on the new platform.
(NAN)
