How N99.5bn Ede Vanity Project May Cost the Governor Osun in 2026
By Decisionmakers Media Ltd
Governor Ademola Adeleke’s decision to abandon MKO Abiola International Airport in Ido-Osun and force a new N99.5bn airport on his Ede hometown is the clearest act of nepotism Osun has seen this republic. For a state that just clawed its way out of insolvency after repaying N97bn debt without borrowing, diverting public funds to a family monument while schools rot and hospitals decay is not leadership. It is political harakiri. The relocation will not deliver votes. It will deliver a backlash that may end Adeleke’s second-term bid in 2026.
The greater danger is what this relocation exposes: the risk of handing a state’s fate, treasury, and destiny to a single family. When public projects are sited by bloodline instead of blueprint, governance becomes inheritance. Ede gets an airport it did not ask for while Ido-Osun loses one it earned through 90 years of aviation history. Ife, Ilesa, Ikirun, and Iwo are reduced to spectators in a dynasty’s budget cycle. Unfortunately, those outside Ede celebrate the “development” without seeing the threat to their own towns. Today it is Ido-Osun’s airport. Tomorrow it is another community’s hospital, university, or federal allocation diverted to consolidate family power. Once the treasury is treated as a family estate, every non-family town becomes expendable. That is the silent cost Osun is incurring, and it is why the airport fight is not about concrete. It is about capture.
The relocation is a policy disaster first, and an electoral liability second. The weaknesses are fatal. One, the contract award reeks of scandal. SHOWIE-TEE GLOBAL SERVICES LTD, a company registered for interior decoration and furniture, was handed N99.5bn to build an aviation complex. Osun did not procure CCECC or Julius Berger. It procured a decorator for a runway. That single fact destroys the governor’s “due process” credentials and hands the opposition a ready-made EFCC petition. Two, the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development has already rejected Ede. Letter Ref. No. 5.12/19/1/Vol.VI/188 says the site is not approved. No NCAA certification means no airline will land in Ede, legally. You cannot campaign in 2026 with a N99.5bn unlicensed airfield. It is a monument to waste, not progress. Three, the move wastes billions already spent in Ido-Osun. Two kilometers of runway earthwork, a fully fenced corridor, a Nigerian Air Force helipad, and the relocated Air Force Research and Development Institute are now abandoned. Rep. Bamidele Salam, now Adeleke’s campaign spokesman, warned in 2021 that such abandonment would send billions “down the drain.” The governor has confirmed Salam’s fear and silenced him. Voters in Ido-Osun, Ifon, Ilobu, and the entire Osun Central will remember that betrayal.
The threats convert those weaknesses into electoral math. First, viability. Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, Kwara, and Ogun all run empty airports. International carriers are not adding Ede to that graveyard. A 5.6km runway — longer than Abuja’s 3.6km and Africa’s record 4.9km at Upington — is economic madness when Osun’s GDP cannot sustain weekly commercial flights. The project will be tagged “Adeleke’s white elephant” on every opposition billboard. Second, the loss of the Nigerian Air Force Aviation City is strategic sabotage. NAF chose Ido-Osun after geo-surveys proved its flat-top plateau and aviation weather. They moved AFRDI from Kaduna, built an admin office, and delivered Osun’s first helipad. That civil-military hub for UAVs, AI, and robotics is now dead. Adeleke traded national security relevance for hometown applause. Security-conscious voters and the military community will punish that trade-off. Third, anti-graft exposure. Awarding an aviation job to an interior decorator invites EFCC and ICPC. If investigations begin before 2026, Adeleke will campaign as a defendant, not an incumbent. The “dancing governor” image cannot survive a procurement scandal of this scale.
So why is this a big setback for reelection? Because the costs are statewide and the benefits are one town. The airport strips Ido-Osun of a 90-year aviation heritage and kills a federal-military partnership that brought jobs. It insults Osun Central and Osun East, where voters already feel marginalized by Ede’s grip on appointments. It gives the APC a simple campaign line: “He took your airport, your Air Force base, and N99.5bn to his village, and federal government says it won’t fly.” In a state where elections are won by 30,000 votes, losing Ido-Osun, Ife, Ijesa, and the anti-corruption bloc is fatal. Federal might may not win Osun, but federal disapproval of an airport will. No certification means no commissioning photo-ops. No commissioning means Adeleke enters 2026 with a bush clearing that cost N99.5bn.
The supposed strengths of the Ede project collapse under scrutiny. Yes, Adeleke showed “will” by awarding the contract. But will without wisdom is recklessness. Yes, a 5.6km runway is “longest in Africa.” But unlicensed concrete does not vote. Yes, a greenfield site avoids Ido-Osun’s alleged encroachment. But it creates new encroachment into public trust. The only opportunity is for concessionaires to rescue the project post-2026 — which means Adeleke will not enjoy the political benefit. He would have spent the money and handed the glory to his successor.
The price of this relocation will be paid in 2026. If Adeleke loses, historians will call Ede Airport his harakiri — the moment he chose dynasty over state, decorator over developer, and defiance over federal approval. Osun voters rejected Oyetola for being distant. They will reject Adeleke for being self-serving. An airport that cannot fly will not carry him to a second term.
