Listing members of the state PCC 24hrs to the event was a ploy to set Osun APC against Tinubu-Lawal

Some prominent leaders of the All Progressives Congress in Osun State were absent on Thursday when a 344-member campaign council was inaugurated to coordinate President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign in the state ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

According to The Punch, former Osun State Governor, Chief Adebisi Akande, led some APC chieftains to the event, where Governor Ademola Adeleke inaugurated the council.

Those present included the party’s former National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore; two former deputy governors, Titi Laoye-Ponle and Lekan Adewoyin; APC National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru; Babajide Omoworare; and Chief Shuaib Oyedokun.

Speaking on the planned inauguration, the Osun APC chairman, Tajudeen Lawal stressed the importance of the task ahead, noting that the party had agreed to Adeleke’s appointment as the state coordinator of Tinubu’s re-election campaign committee.

He said the arrangement was expected to improve Tinubu’s chances through the combined efforts and contributions of the political parties involved, but maintained that the exercise should have been properly scheduled.

Lawal said the party was unaware of any planned inauguration apart from the publication of some names on social media by Adeleke’s spokesman, Malam Olawale Rasheed, on Wednesday afternoon. He said the development had surprised and disappointed the party’s leaders, members and supporters.

He added that although Tinubu’s re-election was a collective responsibility which the party had been pursuing through various means, the exercise required proper planning and coordination.

Lawal stressed that the task involved the re-election of the President under the largest democratic party in sub-Saharan Africa, rather than a local government chairmanship or councillorship election, and should therefore be handled with the highest level of official protocol.

He also argued that not every information circulated on social media should be considered genuine, adding that the notice of less than 12 hours had prevented many people who would otherwise have attended from being present.

“We believe that listing the names of members of the state presidential campaign committee less than 24 hours before the event proper, without any prior meeting with the leadership of the party in the state, was a ploy to set the state chapter of the party against the President,” Lawal said.

He alleged that the current arrangement was designed to stoke and promote an “avoidable misunderstanding between our party and the appointed state coordinator of the campaign in the state, which we shall try as much as possible to avoid.”

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