Basiru Tells Loyalists To Work With Adeleke As Osun APC Rift Deepens

The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ajibola Basiru, has reportedly directed members of his political structure, the Alubarika Group, to work with Governor Ademola Adeleke under the new political arrangement in Osun State.

Naija News reports that Basiru reportedly gave the directive at a meeting with group members in Osogbo on Thursday.

A member of the group, who spoke with Leadership, said the APC scribe told them that Adeleke’s electoral strength and his role as coordinator of President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign in the state made collaboration inevitable.

“Our leader (Basiru) said we should work with the governor. His position was the position of all of us because the governor is also the coordinator of the President’s re-election campaign in the state,” the source said.

However, Adeleke’s inauguration of the 344-member Tinubu campaign council on Thursday exposed deep cracks in the state chapter of the party.

The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, and the party’s 2026 governorship candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, were absent.

Also missing were the state APC Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal; former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Timothy Owoeye; and the member representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency, Oluwole Oke.

Hours before the event, the state APC had complained that it was not properly consulted by the governor’s camp, describing the arrangement as a ploy to sow discord within the party.

Nonetheless, a former governor of the state, Chief Bisi Akande, Basiru and a former National Secretary of the party, Senator Iyiola Omisore, were among the APC leaders who attended.

Akande said the party lacked direction until Adeleke took charge of coordinating the presidential campaign in the state.

Basiru, who described himself as the most senior political office holder in the South by virtue of his position, urged party members to bury their differences and back the governor.

“It is in President Tinubu’s wisdom that he chose Governor Adeleke as his campaign coordinator in Osun. For us in Osun State, irrespective of our feelings, ambitions, or scheming, we must abide by President Bola Tinubu’s vision and support Governor Ademola Adeleke to succeed in this exercise,” he said.

“There is no ambition or ego that is greater than ensuring President Bola Tinubu is re-elected. We must support the President to succeed for a second term,” he added.

In the 2023 presidential election, Tinubu lost Osun State to Atiku Abubakar, then the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.

Atiku polled 354,366 votes in the state, while Tinubu scored 343,945 votes.