The National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Dr Umar Ganduje suffers from verbal diarrhea and swollen ego with an agenda to destabilise the South West zone and create a crisis for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the home front.

This is the salve fired from the camp of Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, as parties gear up for hostilities for the renewal or not of his mandate in 2026.

In a statement in Osogbo on Tuesday signed by Spokesperson to Governor Adeleke, Olawale Rasheed, they alleged that “Dr Ganduje is clearly unhappy with the peace and united front behind Mr President from the South West zone and has now launched vicious attacks to ignite regional political battles to weaken the President ahead of 2027.”

The statement in reaction to the vow by Dr Umar Ganduje to hijack Osun in 2026.

Rasheed said the anti-democratic utterances of the APC leader contrasted sharply with the democratic credentials of President Tinibu. He wondered why the APC leader would be found speaking like an amateur dictator without respect for history.

As a well-read politician, one would have expected Dr Ganduje to know that electoral contests depend mostly on local indexes and factors and that what played out in Edo and Ondo States were surely different from political facts on ground in Osun state.

Local permutations, grievances and interests dictate how people vote rather than superimposed force, the Spokesperson noted, citing the failure of the APC leader to win the Kano State governorship race for his party.

In Kano, the local peculiarities enforced the subsisting victory of the Kwankwasiyya group which beat the Ganduje caucus, despite their being in office for eight years.

He asked, “If Dr Ganduje failed in his own state because internal forces rejected his brand of politics, why is he thinking Osun factors which enthroned Gov Adeleke would not resist any attempt to disrespect the will of Osun people in 2026?”

According to the Spokesperson, Osun State is the cradle of Yoruba people where political freedom is cherished and where resistance to electoral fraud is a strong tradition, describing Dr Ganduje as “a threat to democracy and an insider enemy of President Tinubu.

“If Dr Ganduje truly loves Mr President, why is he pushing to destabilize the president’s home zone through open threats to violate electoral law and deny the electorate their rights to vote and be voted for? By threatening to hijack opposition states, the APC leader is undermining the general consensus among Yoruba people which accept Mr President as their own irrespective of political differences.

“If, however, the statement of the APC leader is borne out of ignorance, he is invited to study Osun politics to get better informed of the dynamics of this state’s politics and to appreciate that what works in Edo and Ondo cannot play out here for several reasons.

“In Osun State, the ruling party, the PDP is daily receiving thousands of decampees from opposition parties. The PDP in Osun is already a strong mass movement which cannot be overrun by a party chairman who failed to deliver his own state and who does not have the mandate of Mr President to ignite conflict in the South West zone.

“The PDP in Osun State is too deeply planted to be threatened or suppressed by any electoral robber and Governor Adeleke remains an extraordinarily popular leader whose mandate now or in 2026 cannot be hijacked by anti- democratic forces”, the Spokesperson noted.

Ondo State Governor-elect, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, and his deputy will officially receive their certificates of return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

INEC’s Chief Press Secretary, Rotimi Oyekanmi, confirmed the announcement, stating that the presentation ceremony will take place as scheduled.

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Aiyedatiwa triumphed in the Ondo governorship election with a total of 366,781 votes, defeating Agboola Ajayi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 117,845 votes.

The certificate presentation will mark the final step in formalizing his victory before his inauguration.

The reinstated Labour Party governorship candidate in Ondo State, Ayodele Olorunfemi, has expressed frustration over his loss in the recent election, attributing his defeat to former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged victorious, securing all 18 local government areas and earning 366,781 votes. Agboola Ajayi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) trailed with 117,845 votes, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

While the APC candidate was declared the winner, Olorunfemi lamented the disruption caused by internal party conflicts, particularly involving Peter Obi’s backing of Olusola Ebiseni.

Olorunfemi accused Obi and the NLC of undermining his campaign by supporting Ebiseni’s candidacy before the Court of Appeal reinstated Olorunfemi’s position on the ballot.

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In a statement to The PUNCH, Olorunfemi criticized the actions of the NLC and Obi, alleging that attempts were made to force his withdrawal through a forged letter. “I have Peter Obi and the NLC to thank for that. They have scuttled my aspirations and chances to win this Ondo election,” he stated. He further claimed that Ebiseni acted without his consent, presenting the forged letter in court.

Olorunfemi vowed to take legal action, stating, “I am planning to petition the Inspector General of Police to probe how they wrote that letter, put my signature, and presented it before the court.”

The Labour Party’s internal strife was highlighted by accusations from the NLC’s acting Political Commission Chairman, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, who described Olorunfemi as unreliable. He alleged that Olorunfemi had initially sought to sell the ticket to Ebiseni for N20 million but reneged on the agreement, leading to the court battle.

Despite his reinstatement days before the election, Olorunfemi admitted his campaign efforts were insufficient to secure victory. As of this report, neither Peter Obi nor Ebiseni had responded to the allegations.