Osun 2026: APC stands to benefit from confusion in PDP — Babayemi
A governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, Prince Dotun Babayemi, has said the ruling party would be the ultimate beneficiary of the unfolding confusion in the Peoples Democratic Party.
Babayemi made the remarks shortly after submitting his Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms at his party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
The APC primary to pick its candidate for the governorship election in the southwest state has been fixed for 13 December.
Amidst the leadership tussle in the PDP, speculation is rife that the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, who is seeking a fresh mandate, will defect to the Accord Party. He has since resigned his membership of the PDP.
Prince Babayemi told journalists that a change of platform by the incumbent governor would negatively affect his chances of winning a second term. He submitted that members of the erstwhile ruling party are waiting anxiously to defect en masse to the APC.
He said: “The sitting governor is not going to run on PDP. We already know that he’s looking to move to a different party, probably Accord or APGA, one of those parties. If he does that, there’s not enough time to get the brand recognition to make an impact. That’s the first thing.
“The second thing is, we are also aware that 50% of the people sitting in PDP today want progressive governance, and we’re sure that with our candidacy, we’ll be able to pull people from different parties to come and join what we already have in APC.
“We expect that a significant number of people from PDP will join us. They are already reaching out, saying they’re just waiting. Knowing the work that we’ve put into this and our acceptability by the people, our party is a progressive party. It’s about the people. Our people are connected with us today. And it’s not just our people in APC; our people in the state believe that it’s time for a new direction.”
The aspirant said if given the party ticket and voted by the people as governor, his first priority would be to take governance to the grassroots in order to curb rural–urban migration.
He said: “The government of the day has completely abandoned the people outside the urban areas; their focus has been around the urban centres. There needs to be a balance between urban and rural renewal, which we should focus on.
“In going to the rural areas, what we see is that Osun is a state with incredible natural resources. The bulk of our people are farmers—almost 65%—yet today they are unable to transport their produce from farm to market because of lapses; there is no infrastructure. The state government, which should be concerned about them, has abandoned that responsibility.
“We understand the challenges faced by farmers and what they need in specific areas. We will collate that information. The most immediate priority is to begin building a connection between rural and urban communities. There’s been a lot of migration from our rural areas. Seventy per cent of Osun is rural. So, the first thing is to bring them back. That is where we expect to boost the economy from.
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