A leadership dispute has erupted within Nigeria’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, as the party’s current caretaker committee has repudiated a directive from a dissolved state executive backing Governor Ademola Adeleke’s re-election bid on another platform.
The conflict stems from a resolution announced in Osogbo by Sunday Bisi, who previously chaired the state’s dissolved Working Committee. Bisi directed all PDP ward, local government, and state structures to support Governor Adeleke’s 2026 re-election campaign under the Accord Party banner, citing developmental projects as justification.
However, the PDP’s national-constituted caretaker committee for Osun, led by Tunde Tijani with Seyi Bamidele as secretary, declared the directive invalid. In a statement, Bamidele asserted that the dissolved executive lacked any authority to speak for the party or to issue instructions on political alliances.
“Such a directive is null, void, and of no consequence,” Bamidele stated, emphasizing that decisions on coalitions or platform changes are exclusively the domain of the PDP’s national leadership. “No individual or dissolved organ has the power to appropriate that responsibility,” he added.
Bisi’s announcement followed an enlarged stakeholders’ meeting where he framed the move as a strategic necessity aligned with the interests of Osun residents, pointing to infrastructural and healthcare developments under Adeleke’s administration.
The caretaker committee countered that the PDP in Osun remains unified and committed to contesting the 2026 governorship election under its own banner. Bamidele maintained that the party’s official structures, from ward to state level, are fully functional and loyal to the PDP. “We are fully mobilising for the August 15 gubernatorial election and are confident that our party will be duly represented on the ballot,” he said.
This public rift highlights deepening internal disagreements over legitimate leadership authority and the PDP’s electoral strategy in Osun State ahead of the 2026 polls. The national leadership’s stance, as echoed by the caretaker committee, reaffirms its control over coalition decisions, setting the stage for a contested political landscape within the party.
