No fewer than 14 political gladiators from the leading opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) have declared their bid to unseat the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2026.
The aspirants include but not limited to the following; Otunba Christopher Iyiola Omisore, Hon Bola Oyebamiji, Omooba Dotun Babayemi, Professor Rafiu Durodoye, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi and Hon. Benedict Adegboyega Alabi.
Also in the race are Senator Babajide Omoworare, Senator Mudashiru Hussain, Hon. Kunle Rasheed Adegoke, Mr Babatunde Oralusi and Dr Peter Babalola among others that have shown interest but are yet to make public declaration.
Contestants from Osun West Senatorial District where we have Senator Ademola Adeleke, the incumbent governor are Oyebanji, Alabi, Ogunbiyi, Hussain, Babayemi, and Babalola, while Omisore, Oralusi and Omoworare are from East Senatorial District and Adegoke, Durodoye coming from Osun Central District.
All the aspirants expressed optimism that they would emerge the flag bearer of the party at the primary election slated for December.
But the ruling Peoples Democratic Party has declared them as feather weight politicians that cannot match the acceptability Governor Ademola Adeleke is enjoying in the state.
PDP chairman in the state, Hon. Sunday Bisi, noted that the performance of Adeleke would speak for him at the poll, adding that the governor had touched the lives of every individual in the state in one way or another.
However, the chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen, has consistently declared that his party would win the governorship election but urged all the aspirants to go to the grassroots to mobilise for the party.
He also told all the aspirants to be ready to work for whosoever emerged at the party primary, insisting that the ultimate was for the party to unseat Governor Adeleke for the wellbeing of the people.
In their move to fly the flag of the party in August, the first aspirant to knock at the door of the state executive committee of the APC at the headquarters of the party in Osogbo on June 3, 2025 was a US-based professor of Mathematics, Professor Rafiu Durodoye from Osogbo and the latest was Otunba Iyiola Omisore who declared on October 8, 2025.
Omisore boasted that he was optimistic of winning the party ticket with 90 percent of the votes, adding that he would win convincingly.
Grassroots mobiliser, Omooba Dotun Babayemi who at the time of filing this report covered 200 of the 322 wards in the state, said he has what is required to get votes of the delegates at the primary.
Also speaking while making his declaration, Bola Oyebanji, who had served as commissioner for finance under two administrations in the state and current managing director, National Inland and Waterways Authority, promised to bring his financial managerial skill to make Osun buoyant.
Oyebanji expressed his optimism that he would clinch the governorship ticket of his party in December and eventually emerge as Osun governor-elect on August 12, 2026.
