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There is a growing allegation in Osun political circles that Governor Ademola Adeleke is executing a quiet but deliberate agenda to make Ede the de facto capital of Osun State, positioning his hometown above historically superior towns like Iwo, Ila Orangun, Ilesha, Ife, and Osogbo in development priority, influence, and symbolism. The clearest signal of this plan, critics argue, is the reported move to relocate the state’s airport project to Ede. But the airport is only the headline; the pattern is visible in the concentration of projects and the clustering of key appointments in Ede since 2022, and together they suggest a redesign of Osun’s power geography.
The logic of capitals is not written in law alone but in infrastructure, and an airport is the ultimate status marker. It brings federal attention, customs presence, logistics corridors, hotels, and the kind of land appreciation that turns a town into a magnet for elites. Osogbo, as the gazetted capital, houses the state secretariat, but it does not control the airspace. Ife is the spiritual cradle, Ilesha the industrial hub, Iwo the headquarters of Osun West, and Ila Orangun a historic center of Yoruba monarchy. Yet the push to site the airport in Ede would give the governor’s hometown the one asset that none of these older towns have, and it would redirect the state’s economic compass toward Ede for the next 20 years. Investors, federal agencies, and political delegations would fly into Ede first. Contracts for access roads, aviation fuel, cargo terminals, and hospitality would flow through Ede contractors. In real terms, Ede becomes the gateway to Osun while Osogbo remains the administrative back office.
That single project would not raise eyebrows if it were isolated. It is the pattern that fuels the allegation. Since 2022, the spread of visible state projects has tilted toward Ede in a way that breaks with the traditional balancing that past governors used to hold the state together. Olagunsoye Oyinlola, despite being from Okuku, distributed flagship projects across Ife, Ijesa, Osogbo, and Ede to keep all zones invested. Rauf Aregbesola sited his mega schools and roads in Osogbo, Iwo, Ilesha, and Ife to reflect the state’s multi-polar structure. Under Adeleke, the concentration has narrowed. Major road rehabilitations, school renovations with the highest budget allocations, and the most publicized empowerment programs have launched from Ede or been headlined by Ede venues. The state’s limited IGR and federal allocations mean every billion spent in Ede is a billion not spent in Ila Orangun’s dilapidated township roads, Ilesha’s water works, Iwo’s intra-city linkages, or Ife’s satellite communities. Development is a zero-sum game when funds are scarce, and the scoreboard currently reads Ede first.
The second pillar of the alleged agenda is appointments. Power in Osun does not reside in titles alone but in who controls the ministries that award contracts, the boards that disburse funds, and the agencies that hire. A review of the governor’s kitchen cabinet and the heads of revenue-generating MDAs shows a heavy Ede footprint. From chief of staff circles to procurement-sensitive boards, to special advisers on works, finance, and investments, the family and political network of Ede has been the primary beneficiary. This matters because appointments determine patronage flow. When the commissioner for works, the chairman of the road maintenance agency, and the special adviser on PPPs all come from one town, the technical and political bias of site selection shifts, often unconsciously. Iwo leaders complain that their federal polytechnic road has waited while Ede township roads received quick intervention. Ilesha stakeholders point to the water project delays while Ede’s stadium upgrade was prioritized. Ife chiefs note that their cultural tourism sites need access roads, yet the contractors mobilized first to Ede. In Osun, where towns measure respect by state presence, these choices are read as a statement: Ede is now the senior town.
The airport plan ties both threads together. Moving it to Ede would cement the town’s infrastructural superiority over Osogbo, which has no airport, and over Iwo, which as Osun West headquarters would ordinarily be the candidate for any western-zone mega project to balance the state. It also undercuts Ila Orangun and Ilesha, which have historically competed for federal presence to match Osogbo’s administrative role. Once Ede controls the air link, the banks, the federal agencies, and the real estate speculators follow. The town’s land values rise, its elites gain proximity to power, and its sons gain first-mover advantage in every new state policy. In ten years, the conversation shifts from “why is Ede getting everything” to “Ede is where everything is,” and the de facto capital is established without a constitutional amendment.
Critics argue this is not accidental but a legacy project for the Adeleke family. Ede has always been politically significant, but it has never been first among equals. Making it first requires more than one term; it requires locking in infrastructure and bureaucracy so deep that even a successor from Ilesha or Ife cannot reverse it without political suicide. That is why the concentration of projects and appointments is interpreted not as favoritism but as statecraft: use four years to move the center of gravity, then let economics defend it.
Whether the agenda is written down or just understood in Government House meetings, the political consequence is already here. Iwo’s pillars like Barrister Gbadegesin Adedeji and Alhaji Liad Tella have stayed put in APC because they see no future in a state where Osun West is a footnote. Ijesa and Ife leaders are exiting to APC and ADC because their towns are being told, by omission, that they are second tier. Osogbo elites are silent but uneasy, because a capital without an airport, without the biggest projects, and without the governor’s core appointees is a capital in name only.
In Osun, superiority is not declared; it is built, road by road, appointment by appointment, airport by airport. The allegation against Adeleke is that he is building Ede to be superior to Iwo, Ila Orangun, Ilesha, Ife, and Osogbo, and the evidence cited is the airport move, the project map, and the appointment list. If that continues, Ede will not need a legal pronouncement to become the de facto capital. The contractors, the pilots, and the bankers will have already made it so.
