“Mr President, the political crisis of 1983 may repeat itself again… I am the governor here not any other person… call your people to order.” Those were Governor Ademola Adeleke’s words to President Bola Tinubu ahead of the Osun election. It was presented as a warning, but it came across as panic. When an incumbent governor stops talking about projects and starts invoking old political crises, threatening violence, and appealing to ethnicity, it is a sign that governance has given way to noise and that the grip on power is loosening.
The reality in Osun today is what the governor must confront. Osun people are not asking for viral moments or press statements. They are asking for wages, pensions, and fair development across the state. Workers have publicly asked the governor to reduce spending in the Office of the Governor, alleging that nearly N30 billion has been spent there in less than two years. The NLC says the N70,000 minimum wage has not been implemented despite increased federal allocations after subsidy removal. On pensions, out of a N5 billion budget for 2024, only N842 million had been paid by June. These are not opposition talking points. They are issues raised by workers and labour leaders who feel abandoned while government resources appear to be directed elsewhere.
At the same time, there is a growing perception of proxy governance. The Chief of Staff, Kazeem Akinleye, is widely described as the “de facto governor” because of his closeness to the family, especially to billionaire Deji Adeleke. Alongside him is “Madam Dupe,” the governor’s elder sister, who is alleged to control contract awards across ministries. Constitutional offices like the Secretary to the State Government and the Deputy Governor are said to have been sidelined. Ede, the family’s hometown, now leads in appointments and in the siting of projects, including the current road dualization, while other zones that voted for the administration complain of neglect. The APC has also called for an investigation into an alleged N297 million UNIOSUN TETFUND contract awarded to AKINSAS INTERBIZ LIMITED, a company linked to the CoS. The governor dismissed it as “malicious falsehood,” but the allegation has added to the belief that state resources are being managed through family networks rather than through institutions.
Instead of addressing these issues, the response has been alarm and blackmail. In his message to the President, the governor said, “you are a Yoruba man and Osun is Yorubaland.” That is an appeal to ethnicity, not to law or to INEC. He referenced 1983, a year remembered for political violence in the South-West, as a possible outcome if the election does not go a certain way. That is not a commitment to peace. It is a threat. He also asked, “Accord has already endorsed you, why are we suffering again?” If the endorsement is secure, the panic suggests that endorsement is not translating to support on the ground. This is the familiar pattern in Nigerian politics: when performance is in question, raise alarm, accuse opponents of destabilization, and wrap the argument in identity. But alarm cannot pay salaries. Blackmail cannot build roads. Threats cannot clear pension arrears.
Someone lost that position for Governor Adeleke to come in. The people of Osun voted him in because they were tired of the alternative. That mandate can be withdrawn the same way it was given if delivery does not follow. The Adeleke name has been in Osun politics for nearly 40 years. Isiaka became governor at 36, left office with allegations, later apologized, and went to the Senate with little impact. Ademola completed that Senate tenure also without a notable record. Now the family holds the governorship again, backed by wealth and influence. That history places a heavier burden on this administration, not an exemption from scrutiny.
What is required now is not more shouting. A Chief Security Officer who is truly in control does not need to run to Abuja to ask the President to call people to order. A governor confident of his record does not need to invoke 1983. A leader whose works are speaking does not need to threaten crisis. The path forward is clear. Publish a transparent account of spending in the governor’s office. Implement the minimum wage. Clear pension backlogs. Reduce the influence of proxies and allow constitutional offices to function. Spread appointments and projects beyond Ede so that every part of Osun feels represented.
Osun is not a family estate. It is a state of over 4 million people who gave the Adeleke dynasty another chance. They will judge that chance not by how loud the governor speaks to the President, but by how well their lives have improved. “Baba Onibaba ti n bohun” only when the crowd stops clapping. The clapping is getting quiet, Mr Governor. The time for alarm and blackmail is over. The time for work has come. Let your works speak.
