Members of the National Assembly and the Osun State House of Assembly elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party have disowned the Tunde Tijani-led caretaker committee of the party in the state.
The lawmakers made their position known in a communique obtained in Osogbo on Sunday, issued after an earlier meeting of the group.
In the communique signed by the Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate, Dr Lere Oyewumi, the lawmakers noted Governor Ademola Adeleke’s efforts towards improving the standard of living of residents and pledged support for his re-election bid in the 2026 governorship poll.
The lawmakers also backed the Mr Sunday Bisi-led PDP State Working Committee in Osun, saying any “individual or group parading themselves as alternative leadership does not have the backing of the duly elected National and State Assembly caucus of the party in Osun State and should not be accorded legitimacy.”
The group, while reacting to the defection to the APC by five federal lawmakers elected on the platform of the PDP, declared that “the political realignments in the state do not in any way diminish the strength, structure, or grassroots support of the Governor and the PDP in Osun State.
“The party remains united and firmly established at the National Assembly caucus level, State Assembly level, Executive Council, Local Governments, Wards, and grassroots structures across the State.”
They condemned the alleged illegal diversion of public funds into private pockets in Osun local government areas and said the continued withholding of allocations due to council areas in the state was causing avoidable hardship for teachers, nurses, healthcare workers, local government civil servants, retirees, and traditional institutions at the grassroots.
They called on President Bola Tinubu to direct current “illegal occupants” of the council areas in Osun to vacate immediately to avert crises.
“PDP as a party and the government in the state are law-abiding, and that is why we have chosen the path of peace and path of law, not to throw the state into crises.
“That we also call on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to ensure that all federal institutions and agencies act strictly within the confines of the Constitution and pay the Local Governments fund directly into the Local Government accounts opened and operated by the constitutionally mandated people (Career officers) and not political office holders,” the statement further read.
But when contacted for reaction to the rejection of the caretaker committee, the Secretary of the committee, Mr Seyi Bamidele, said any individual or group uncomfortable with the PDP could exercise their liberty to belong to an association of choice or withdraw membership.
Bamidele, who dismissed alleged “attempts to confer legitimacy on any leadership arrangement outside the authentic structure,” said such efforts would be disregarded by the party “and cannot substitute due process.”
“Those elected into legislative offices on the platform of the PDP did so by the grace of the Party, its structures, and its supporters.
“Such mandates do not confer authority on elected officials to override, redefine, or undermine party leadership or institutional decisions. The Party remains supreme over individual ambitions or caucus positions.
“The supremacy of the Party is a foundational principle recognised in democratic party organisation. No group of elected officers — regardless of their status — possesses the constitutional or moral authority to validate or impose leadership contrary to the established and legitimate structures of the Party,” he further said.
PDP National Working Committee had dissolved the Osun State Working Committee of the party and replaced it with Tunde Tijani and Seyi Bamidele, who were to serve as caretaker chairman and secretary.
The move was, however, rejected by the Sunday Bisi-led Osun PDP SWC, as members of the executive insisted that they remained the legally recognised PDP leadership in Osun.
The Punch
