Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, on Monday criticized former Governor and Interim National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress, Rauf Aregbesola, over his recent political moves aimed at reclaiming the state in the upcoming 2026 governorship election.
Aregbesola, who governed Osun State from November 2010 to November 2018, had maintained a publicly cordial relationship with Adeleke since the latter assumed office in November 2022. However, tensions flared after Aregbesola, during a political outing in Osogbo on Sunday, mobilized support for the ADC and declared the party’s intention to take control of Osun in 2026.
In response, Governor Adeleke, through a statement signed by his spokesperson Olawale Rasheed, accused Aregbesola of plotting his removal and questioned his legacy in office.
“A man who left a legacy of huge state debt, half salary, scam learning tablets (Opon Imo) and several fanciful, inflated, uncompleted projects.
“Your tenure is the worst in Osun history. The empty boast of Mr Aregbesola about 2026 is a symptom of a troubled mind who sees the wrong vision, is battling his benefactor and is haunted by the pains and suffering he inflicted on millions of Osun people through his evil policies and programmes.
“A man who should be remorseful and tender public apologies for his years of maladministration has the audacity to threaten Governor Adeleke, who is clearing the mess he left behind after his eight years of anti-people, thoughtless leadership.
“Mr Aregbesola’s wickedness against workers, public servants, and Osun people knows no bounds while he wielded state power,” the statement read.
Adeleke highlighted strides made by his administration in handling the financial burdens inherited from Aregbesola, stating:
“The present administration has paid close to N60bn in pension debt, a legacy of this same Aregbesola.
“Pensioners and workers generally are not praying for a return to the evil days of a bad administrator who left his state in ruin after eight years.”
He also said that his administration had cleared 28 months of the half salaries owed during the Aregbesola era, and reduced the state’s debt by 40 per cent, without resorting to borrowing for infrastructure development.
“Mr Aregbesola is invited to note that Governor Adeleke has constructed about 200km of roads, rehabilitated over 200 schools and health centres, placed over 30,000 pensioners on free health insurance care, provided critical medical surgeries to over 60,000 Osun residents, completed several abandoned projects at Osun State University, made University of Ilesa a reality, among several others.
“If Aregbesola is to accuse Governor Adeleke of non-performance, we await his review of the dualisation of palace to brewery junction at Ilesa, which he failed to achieve while in office.
“He should check out the flyover projects at Ile Ife and Osogbo and the dualisation projects ongoing at Iwo, among others,” the governor said.
Adeleke expressed confidence in winning reelection, saying, “Osun people know their present and past governors.
“Our people are smart enough to know that the worst era for Osun State is that of Mr Aregbesola under whom many pensioners lost their lives, thousands of lives were disrupted, and the state plunged into unsustainable debt still hurting the state to date. No voter in Osun is ready for a return to the dark days.
“We, therefore, dismiss Aregbesola’s boast as a blurry vision of another world other than Osun where Governor Adeleke has received accolades and awards for delivering on good governance and where Osun people have appreciated the local content policy, the non-borrowing policy, and the people’s first style of the current governor.”
He concluded by declaring that the 2026 election would be a referendum on Aregbesola’s time in office, “It will be payback time when the Osun people would punish the former governor and his new party for allegedly inflicting pain and suffering on them throughout his eight-year rule.”
Attempts to reach Oluseun Abosede, spokesperson for Omoluabi Progressives, for a reaction were unsuccessful as calls to his mobile line did not connect, and WhatsApp messages sent were not replied to as of press time.
