The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has blamed Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke’s departure from the party on internal conflicts that the leadership failed to address, calling him “a victim of circumstance.”
Ini Ememobong, PDP National Publicity Secretary, told Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday that Adeleke’s departure was the outcome of problems that the party let grow uncontrolled.
According to the PDP spokesman, Adeleke’s defection was avoidable since “every problem is human-caused and therefore should have a human solution.”
Ememobong maintained that prompt and strong action by the party leadership may have avoided the difficulties that eventually forced the governor to leave.
“At the level of leadership to which he belonged in the party, the party ought to have acted decisively,” he told me.
He characterized the PDP’s internal problems as self-inflicted, warning that political disagreements escalate when ignored.
“The challenge is that immediately we begin to feed the monster without knowing we will end up in the belly of the monster; after a while, we become victims.
“If we feed animals to the monster, and we think time will solve problems, time allows human beings to solve problems. It doesn’t solve problems on its own,” he said.
Ememobong also stated that the cracks within the party became visible in 2023 and should have been addressed with “strong action.” Instead, he said, the leadership chose negotiations, hoping tempers would cool.
“You also cannot fully blame them,” he said, “because sometimes they think that with negotiations, when passions are calm, people could reconsider their position, but unfortunately, they didn’t.”
He attributed the party’s dissolution to the contentious PDP convention in Ibadan, which saw the expulsion of prominent members, the election of new national officers, and escalating internal tensions.
Adeleke’s departure, he claims, was due to “circumstances arising from vicarious liabilities that he cannot completely extricate himself from.”
Chronicle NG reports that Adeleke has formally resigned from the PDP, the party that propelled him to fame as a senator and later governor.
On December 2, he announced his resignation via a post on his official X (Twitter), adding a letter dated November 4, 2025.
The letter, written to the PDP Chairman of Ward 2, Sagba Abogunde of Ede North, reads, “Due to the current crisis of the national leadership of the PDP, I hereby resign my membership of the Peoples Democratic Party with immediate effect.”
Adeleke’s departure was succeeded by a statement from his spokesman, Olawale Rasheed, on Tuesday, confirming that he had joined the Accord Party.
The governor disclosed that he joined the party on November 6, 2025—just weeks prior to his public resignation—and plans to run for a second term on its platform in August 2026.
He stated that the decision followed thorough discussions with political actors and opinion shapers, emphasizing that he selected the Accord Party due to its focus on welfarism, which matches his dedication to the welfare of citizens and workers.
On Wednesday, the governor was announced as the Accord Party’s nominee for the governorship election on August 8, 2026.
Adeleke, the sole candidate in the primary conducted in Osogbo, received 145 votes out of 150 cast by delegates from the state’s 30 local government areas.
In announcing the primary results, the Secretary of the electoral committee, Abdulazeez Salaudeen, stated that five votes had been rendered invalid.
