Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, and other key leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state were absent on Tuesday as the party held its governorship primary, where Adedamola Adebayo emerged as the PDP candidate for the 2026 Osun governorship election.
Adebayo polled 919 votes out of the 957 accredited delegates who participated in the exercise held in Osogbo.
Declaring the result, the chairman of the primary election committee, Humphrey Abba, said, “Void votes, 20. We told you earlier that one of the aspirants withdrew. The candidate that got the remaining votes is Adebayo Adedamola with 919 votes and stands elected and returned.”
Shortly after the exercise ended, the Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Adewale Egbedun, led some lawmakers to the venue and confronted individuals still on the premises. A fracas ensued during which a man believed to be a staff member of the Independent National Electoral Commission was assaulted by a suspected hoodlum.
In a video seen by The PUNCH, Egbedun marched into the hall where the primary had held and was engaged in a heated exchange with the INEC official before a suspected political thug struck the man.
Another video showed a bus conveying several people away from the venue being intercepted by a mob. The passengers were assaulted before being moved to the House of Assembly Police Post in Osogbo, where they later spoke to journalists.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Wakili Aderemi, a driver from Ibadan, said they were in Osogbo for a union meeting, not to participate in any political activity.
He said, “I am Wakili Akinremi. We are park managers but the National President of NURTW came to Oyo State some weeks ago and negotiated with our governor, on how we are going to return to union because we park managers. But this morning, our bosses called us and said we should proceed to Osogbo in our zonal office to participate in the election of our chairman.
“They packed all of us into the vehicle and when we got here, we found ourselves at a hotel (where PDP primary was going on), and we decided to share few bottles of drinks. I am now 68 years, I am not telling a lie. We when into the bar. I took two bottles of Budweiser and other people here too also took different brand of drinks.
“After we were done, we left the bar and got into our vehicle. We were leaving the premises when some people bombarded us. We all came from Oyo State and we are members of PMS. We came for zonal meeting where we will decide the next Oyo Chairman of NURTW. None of us was having party tag. Sixteen of us came from Oyo. We don’t know anything about a party primary. I am not a politician.”
But Egbedun, who spoke with journalists shortly after the incident, accused Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, of meddling in the affairs of PDP in the state.
“We were at the floor of the House, when we received calls that some people are here from Oyo State to vote. We call it a drama. I am a leader of the PDP and a bona fide member of the party, I used PDP ticket to win my election in 2023. So it’s very strange to see videos of people calling themselves PDP members.
“This is a message to Governor Seyi Makinde. If he is desperate to become President come 2027, he should use another state as a tool, not Osun State. We are bona fide PDP members, we have 25 House of Assembly members, five Rep members, senators. For a governor from another state would come to our state to dictate to us, we won’t take that!
“This is a message to everybody that we won’t take this anymore. They came here to do what I can call a drama and this will be the end of it.We do not have any notifications whatsoever that something like this will happen,” Egbedun said.
Despite announcing his resignation from the PDP earlier in the day, Adeleke’s name appeared on the ballot as one of the two aspirants cleared for the primary.
The Secretary of the primary committee, Sunday Solarin, explained before voting commenced that although Adeleke had withdrawn, his name remained on the ballot. “Votes for Adeleke would eventually amount to waste,” he said.
Heavy security was deployed to the venue, with operatives of the Department of State Services, the police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps stationed at all access points.
The exercise eventually began at 11:07 am following the arrival of INEC representatives and the PDP national committee led by Abba.
The build-up to the primary was mired in confusion, with factional PDP officials issuing conflicting directives.
While Theophilus Shan, a factional National Organising Secretary, insisted the primary would proceed, Umar Bature, holding the same office in another faction, announced a postponement.
In a letter dated December 4, 2025, addressed to his ward chairman in Ede North, Adeleke resigned from the PDP, citing the national leadership crisis.
The letter, obtained by The PUNCH, read in part: “Due to the current crisis within the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, I hereby resign my membership of the PDP with immediate effect.”
He thanked the party for the platform it provided for his previous elections.
His spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, confirmed the development.
Osun PDP chairman, Sunday Bisi, speaking on Monday, had said the governor might reconsider his position if the crises rocking the party were resolved within the timeframe allowed by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
INEC has set December 15 as the deadline for parties to submit their candidates for the August 8, 2026 Osun governorship election.
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