BREAKING: Gov Ademola Adeleke dumps PDP on eve of Osun Primary

Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), plunging the troubled state chapter of the party into deeper turmoil barely 24 hours before its scheduled governorship primary.

A letter personally signed by the governor and dated November 4, addressed to the PDP chairman of Sagba Ward 2 in Ede, surfaced on Monday evening. In it, Adeleke cited the “current crisis of the national leadership” of the PDP as the reason for his abrupt withdrawal from the party he rode to power.

“Due to the current crisis of the national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party, I hereby resign my membership of the People’s Democratic Party with immediate effect,” the governor wrote.

The resignation followed a chaotic day of mixed signals from the party’s national and state organs over whether the primary election would still hold on Tuesday.

State PDP Suspends Primary, Says Adeleke No Longer in the Race

Earlier on Monday, Osun State PDP chairman, Sunday Bisi, announced that the governorship primary had been suspended, citing unending factional disputes and what he described as an impossible atmosphere for a credible exercise.

Bisi also disclosed that Governor Adeleke had already withdrawn from the contest, attributing his decision to the deepening internal rift within the party.

But in a contradictory move, a letter purportedly from the PDP national secretariat insisted the primary would proceed as planned at Atlantic Multipurpose Hall, Osogbo, a development that further exposed the widening gulf between the state structure and the national leadership.

Adeleke Expresses Gratitude, Gives No Hint of Next Move

In his resignation letter, Adeleke thanked the party for the platform that enabled his rise to national prominence, first as senator for Osun West and later as governor of the state.

“I thank the People’s Democratic Party for the opportunities given to me for my elections as a Senator (Represented Osun West) and as Governor of Osun State,” he said.

He however offered no insight into his next political destination, though analysts say his exit is likely to trigger a flurry of alignments and recalibrations across Osun’s political field.

PDP’s National Crisis Deepens

The development is the latest blow to a party struggling to stabilise since its loss in the 2023 presidential election.

The PDP has been battling factional wars in several states, with parallel congresses and divided leadership structures worsening its national cohesion.

In September, the National Working Committee (NWC) waded into disputes in Rivers, Edo and Lagos, promising reforms, but the festering crisis in Osun suggests the efforts have not yielded the needed internal stability.

Adeleke’s defection adds to a growing list of prominent South-West figures who have abandoned the PDP over internal grievances.

Former Ekiti governorship aspirant Segun Oni left the party in 2024 under similar circumstances, exposing widening cracks between legacy PDP blocs and newer factions aligned with sitting governors.

Primary in Limbo

As of Monday night, the national secretariat had neither acknowledged Adeleke’s resignation nor issued any official update on the status of Tuesday’s primary.

State party officials, on the other hand, maintain that the exercise cannot go ahead under what they describe as “untenable and compromised conditions.”

With parallel directives from Abuja and Osogbo, and the governor’s dramatic exit hanging overhead, the fate of the PDP’s governorship primary remains uncertain.

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