A group of All Progressives Congress, APC, members in Osun State staged a peaceful protest on Friday at the party’s secretariat in Ogo-Oluwa, Osogbo, voicing opposition to reported plans to offer Governor Ademola Adeleke an automatic ticket as the APC’s candidate for the 2026 gubernatorial election.
The protesters, who gathered at the party’s headquarters, carried placards and chanted slogans condemning what they described as an attempt to impose Adeleke on the party without due process.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Taofeek Afolabi, who identified himself as a youth leader within the party, emphasized that while they were not opposed to Adeleke’s membership in the APC, he should not be given a free pass to secure the party’s governorship ticket.
“We are not saying the party should reject Gov. Ademola Adeleke if he joins us, but he must contest fairly like every other aspirant. There should be no automatic ticket,” Afolabi said.
Other protesters echoed similar concerns, maintaining that the party must uphold democratic values by conducting a transparent and competitive primary to select its candidate for the 2026 election.
Reacting to the development, a party executive who spoke on condition of anonymity expressed surprise at the protest, stating that no prior notice was given.
“We didn’t know they were coming. This kind of protest is not acceptable because it could create the wrong impression that the demonstration was orchestrated or endorsed by the party leadership,” the official said.
The protest, which lasted for several hours, ended without incident. As of the time of this report, the state APC leadership had yet to release an official statement addressing the protest or the allegations surrounding the proposed automatic ticket for Governor Adeleke.
