0
0
By Taofik Adekunle Jimoh (JAAT)
Osun politics was jolted last week after two senators from the state — Francis Fadahunsi (Osun East) and Olubiyi Fadeyi (Osun Central) — dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Senior Special Assistant to Governor Ademola Adeleke, Hezekiah Bamiji, immediately dismissed the move as a “miscalculation”, insisting the lawmakers had “fallen for an APC trap.”
Over in the House of Representatives, Taofeek Ajilesoro and Omirin Emmanuel Olusanya (both from Osun) also crossed to the APC, citing “irreconcilable divisions” within the PDP in letters read on the floor by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas. They defected alongside Marcus Onobun from Edo State.
These moves swelled APC’s numerical strength at the National Assembly. According to Punch, APC’s Senate caucus has now risen to 70 following fresh defections.
In its own way, PDP insiders in Osun and Abuja are already talking tough. They are heading to court and attempt to unseat the defectors under Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (mirrored for state assemblies in Section 109), which mandates legislators who leave the party that sponsored them to vacate their seats.
Away from the courtroom, the defections are bleeding political capital. Senator Olubiyi Ajagunla Olubiyi Fadeyi (one of the defecting senators) is facing a steady stream of resignations from his team. The latest:
Hon. Yusuff Abdullahi (Elegbede), Special Adviser on Mobilisation; Hon. Olalekan Osundina, Senior Special Assistant on Research, Otunba Tunde Badmus, Chief of Staff; Adeniran Babatunde Shakirullahi, Media Assistant; Oladapo S. Popoola, Special Adviser on Media, all of whom also quit after the defection.
These resignations deepen the narrative that the defectors may be losing their grassroots and backroom machinery at home, just as they try to plant new roots inside the APC.
If some defectors banked on guaranteed return tickets in 2027, the APC’s national leadership has been busy pouring cold water on that hope.
In early June, both Premium Times and Daily Trust reported the party’s position that there would be no automatic tickets for National Assembly Members. This has been described as a stances fuelling fresh internal tensions, according to The Guardian Newspaper.
Yet, Daily Trust separately reported that promises of automatic tickets and contracts are among the sweeteners drawing opposition figures into the ruling fold.
Some are afraid that the Federal might might be used to crush the opposition members in power.
New entrants from Osun could face bruising primaries against long‑standing party stalwarts who see them as latecomers trying to jump the queue as the APC leadership (in Osun and Abuja) officially disavowing automatic tickets,
Taofik Adekunle Jimoh (JAAT) is a journalist and blogger. He’s a correspondent at Osun Spring Newspaper.
Average Rating