Op-Ed: Anti-party Activists of 2022 as Defectors of 2024 By Adeola Adekola

By Adeola Adekola

Osun politics is full of drama and one of such ludicrous entertainment is presently ongoing. An hollow impotent political scheming is for non-party members to claim to have defected in 2024 from a party they harshly worked against way back in 2022.

I mean in the 2022 poll, you worked against a party; you defected from a party; then you were expelled; another was refused re-entry into the party; and the third one after his anti-party conduct was never fully back in the party. Upon all the evil ploys of 2022, the PDP and its candidate, Governor Ademola Adeleke won resoundingly, defeating the hatchet job of anti-party activists.

This gang then woke up and got re-purchased into the badly split opposition which also shamelessly packaged its clients of 2022 as defectors of 2024. A rejected opposition is re-engaging spies and hackmen who failed to deliver on the contract of 2022.

Wait a minute, I mean you bankrolled some disloyal PDP members in 2022 to work against the emergence of Governor Ademola Adeleke. You lost your deposit as Governor Adeleke won overwhelmingly. Today, you are still so undiscerning and unpopular as to put your bet on failed men of yesterday as your messiah of 2026.

The winning party after beating internal and external agents axed the team leader, Dotun Babayemi in 2023 and banished two other arrowheads from re-joining the party in early 2023. From 2022 till date, they were never part of the ruling party again.

How can you defect from a party of which you are not a member?

Or is it not widely publicized that Dotun Babayemi was expelled by his ward in 2023 and Dr Akin Ogunbiyi was refused re-admission into the party on account of 2022 anti-party activities?

Is Chief Shuaib Oyedokun not just a nominal member of the PDP since he failed in his bid to stop Governor Adeleke in 2022?

What the opposition is celebrating as defection is simply the official unmasking of APC agents within PDP in 2022 who proved manifestly impotent in their insidious assignment to stop the incumbent Governor in the last guber election. It is simply the case of failed spies returning home to the paymaster.

It must be affirmed that Governor Adeleke won in 2022 without these anti-party activists of 2022 now masquerading as defectors of 2024. Despite working for former Governor Oyetola in the July 2022 election, Governor Adeleke won. Their electoral strengths were tested then and they proved impotent and politically irrelevant.

If these men were that potent, how come their anti-party conduct failed to stop Governor Adeleke in 2022?

As at today, none of the potent forces behind Adeleke’s winning in 2022 has left the ruling party, the PDP.

If there is anything, the winning caucuses have been reinforced with new entrants and previously independent players. Major players behind Adeleke Governorship have been strengthened by his wonderful performance in office and his increasing street credibility amidst high performance rating.

Political watchers may also want to note that while the Adeleke camp remains ever solid, grassrooted and potent , it is the anti-Adeleke camp of 2022 that has split into two camps. As Babayemi, Ogunbiyi and Oyedokun are heading to their old abode, other previously top leaders of that camp namely former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Senator Olu Alabi, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo and others remain strongly within PDP.

They publicly declared their irreversible position never to decamp from the PDP even as they declared support for Governor Adeleke. Several top young leaders of the 2022 anti-Adeleke group have returned to the mainstream namely Funsho Babatunde, Abayomi Ojo Segun, Apesin Adegoke, Eddy and several others.

The preceding analysis and opinion are designed to unmask the lies of the opposition. The current popular rating of the Adeleke government cannot be undone by false scheming like presenting agents as defectors. The APC spies and agents of 2022 failed and they just returned home or they were recalled for review by their masters.

Spies who failed on assigned missions are often recalled home for punishment. Whatever fate befall the agents of 2022 in their masters’ home front is none of PDP headache.

The ruling party remains strong. Its Governor is delivering on good governance and clearly and asserted, there is no vacancy in Abeere come 2026.

● Adeolu Adekola, a member of PDP from Gidigbo 11, sent this piece from Iwo.