Osun: APC’s Defeat Not Adeleke’s Trade-Off for Supporting Tinubu — Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former political adviser to President Bola Tinubu, has rejected claims that the All Progressives Congress (APC) deliberately lost the Osun State governorship election in exchange for Governor Ademola Adeleke’s support for Tinubu’s 2027 presidential bid.

Baba-Ahmed said he believed Adeleke and the Accord Party won the August 15 election fairly and argued that the APC could be defeated in credible elections.

Adeleke, the Accord Party candidate, secured 511,067 votes to win the governorship election and retain his position as governor of Osun State.

His closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the APC, polled 444,815 votes, while Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) finished third with 17,180 votes.

Before the election, Adeleke and the Accord Party had publicly endorsed President Tinubu for a second term in the 2027 presidential election.

The endorsement subsequently fuelled speculation among some political commentators that there could have been an understanding between Adeleke and the President.

However, Baba-Ahmed dismissed the theory, saying the APC’s defeat should instead be viewed as the outcome of a competitive election.

“I am not one of those supporting the conspiracy theory that the APC’s defeat in the Osun governorship election is a trade-off for the governor’s support for Tinubu in 2027,” he wrote on X.

He added that he preferred to believe that the Accord Party won the election fairly and maintained that the APC could be defeated when elections were conducted fairly.

“I prefer to believe Accord Party won fairly. I believe the APC can be defeated in fair elections. Osun State will reject it in 2027,” Baba-Ahmed said.

The former presidential adviser also criticised what he described as President Tinubu’s intervention in the controversy surrounding funds belonging to Osun State that had been frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to him, the President did not have the authority to stop EFCC operations, despite his position as head of the Federal Government.

“The clumsy intervention by PBAT on EFCC/Osun State frozen funds just made everything worse. PBAT, even as a maximum president, has no power to stop EFCC’s operations,” he said.

Baba-Ahmed also criticised the EFCC, arguing that the agency’s handling of the matter had damaged public confidence in its operations.

“EFCC itself has damaged itself badly. It will be difficult not to see a good cop-bad cop game here,” he added.

His comments come amid continuing political debate over the implications of Adeleke’s re-election and his endorsement of Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.