Dissatisfied members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State on Friday protested at the party’s secretariat in Ogo-Oluwa, Osogbo, rejecting alleged plan to offer Governor Ademola Adeleke an automatic ticket as the APC candidate in the 2026 governorship election.
Displaying placards and chanting slogans, they decried what they described as an attempted “imposition” of Adeleke on the party, insisting that internal democracy must prevail.
One of the protesters, Taofeek Afolabi, a youth leader within the party, told reporters: “We are not against Governor Adeleke joining the APC, but we strongly oppose the idea of granting him an automatic ticket. He should go through the normal process like every other aspirant. Let there be a level playing field.”
Other protesters generally echoed similar concerns, noting that while Adeleke’s rumoured defection may be welcome, the governorship ticket must be earned through a transparent and competitive primary.
One of them said, “Our fear is that if the party leadership imposes any candidate, it will create division and weaken our chances in the 2026 polls”.
A party official at the state secretariat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the demonstration caught the leadership by surprise, adding that no formal decision had been made on the 2026 ticket.
“As far as the state executive is concerned, we’ve made no announcement or agreement regarding automatic tickets. The process for choosing our candidate will be democratic,” the official stated.
The protest underscores growing tensions within the APC over the possible defection of Governor Adeleke from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the implications it may have on the party’s internal dynamics ahead of the next governorship election.
