OsunDecides: Panic in Adeleke’s camp as Oyinlola, Omisore team up with APC’s Oyebamiji

With a few days left before the much-watched Osun governorship election, the camp of the opposition APC candidate, Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji (AMBO) has received a major boost as a former governor of the state and two former deputy governors declared support for his campaign at the weekend.

The political realignment, just seven days ahead of the August 15, 2026, off-cycle governorship election, saw former Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and a former Deputy Governor, Senator Iyiola Omisore, officially collapse their political structure into the their support for the campaign structure of AMBO.

While Oyinlola led his PDP faction to join the APC team, Omisore – an APC chieftain – appears to have retraced his steps after he had initially declared support for the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party.

The endorsement ceremony for AMBO, which took place during strategic stakeholders’ meetings on Saturday, has altered the dynamics of the race, delivering a major boost to the APC candidate.


Oyinlola and Omisore were joined by other former opposition political heavyweights such as a former Secretary to the State Government, Fatai Akinbade, and former Southwest Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo.


The group said their realignment was due to a shared commitment to rescue Osun State from what they characterized as administrative mediocrity and lack of seriousness under the current leadership.

This comes even as President Bola Tinubu held a meeting with aggrieved APC leaders in the state to rally them behind Oyebamiji. The APC leaders, who were previously lukewarm about the APC Governorship campaign, were reported to have complained to Tinubu that they had been sidelined within the party by the camp of the Minister of Blue Economy, Isiaka Oyetola.

Omisore, who was also unhappy with the state leadership of the APC, appeared to have had a change of hear after meeting the APC chieftain, Bisi Akande in his Ila-Orangun home.
Omisore emerged with the meeting firly dispelling speculations regarding his commitment to the APC following internal friction during the party primaries.

Omisore, a former National Secretary of the APC, has also been drafted into the APC’s 276-member National Campaign Council, signaling his return to reckoning within the party.

Oyebamiji, the immediate past Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), continues to consolidate his base. Recently, his campaign absorbed the structure of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) following the withdrawal of its candidate, Adesina Adeyemi-Doro

Reacting to the endorsements, the party’s governorship candidate, Oyebamiji expressed his gratitude to the elder statesmen and reiterated that his administration would run on a business-minded blueprint to unlock shared prosperity, infrastructure development, and youth inclusion.

“We have entered into an agreement with the people for an inclusive government. This time, internal sabotage is over. The people of Osun are ready to vote for progress and align our state with the central government,” Oyebamiji stated.