The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has discontinued its parallel presidential campaign structure and renamed its campaign council the Osun State All Progressives Congress Parliamentary Campaign Council.
The party also expanded the legislative campaign council’s membership to accommodate all members of the state executive committee following protests over the initial composition of the campaign team.
The new 183-man council was unveiled in Osogbo on Tuesday.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that the Osun APC unveiled a 168-man parallel presidential and parliamentary campaign council that would work for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu and canvass votes for other candidates contesting on the platform of the party in the 2027 general elections.
A statement signed by the Osun APC Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, obtained in Osogbo on Monday, said the campaign council was put in place to further strengthen the party’s chances in the poll.
The campaign council has the party’s candidate in the August 8 governorship poll, Bola Oyebamiji, as its Director-General, while the state APC chairman, Lawal, will serve as Deputy Director-General.
The development comes amid a political disagreement in Osun State after the APC Presidential Campaign Council appointed Governor Ademola Adeleke, a member of the Accord Party, as the state coordinator of Tinubu’s campaign during the inauguration of the council in Abuja on October 14.
Shortly after his unveiling, Adeleke announced a separate 344-member campaign council comprising members of different political parties.
In a counter-move, the Osun APC chapter on Monday unveiled its own campaign structure to mobilise support for Tinubu, appointing Oyebamiji as its Director-General.
But the list was greeted with protests as four members of the state party executive rejected its composition and demanded an immediate review.
The four executives are the State Publicity Secretary, Wole Adunola, Welfare Officer, Adesola Ayangbile, Assistant Organising Secretary, Rasheed Adeniji, and State Ex-Officio member, Abiola Ololade.
In a joint statement released on Tuesday, the state executive leaders expressed strong dissatisfaction with the list, arguing that its composition blatantly violates party guidelines, disregards due process, and fails to embody the principle of inclusiveness essential for a successful presidential campaign.
They also pointed out a stark inconsistency between the new list and an earlier presidential directive that had reportedly named Governor Ademola Adeleke as the Director-General of the Presidential Campaign Council in Osun State, a development following which the governor had already inaugurated a broad-based campaign team across the state.
They called for an immediate suspension and review of the controversial list, urging top party leadership, including APC National Secretary, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru, alongside the State Director-General, to step in, initiate comprehensive consultations, and realign the campaign apparatus.
Despite the internal friction, the leaders reiterated their firm loyalty to the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and urged both national and state party organs to rectify the omissions urgently to present a united front ahead of the elections.
In the statement that accompanied the new list, Lawal said the party had reviewed the structure.
“Following the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council by the national leader of our party and its presidential candidate, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, on October 14, 2026, in Abuja, and the subsequent inauguration of the state chapter by Governor Ademola Adeleke, the party resolved to focus its own structure on parliamentary campaigns,” Lawal said.
Under the revised arrangement, Bola Oyebamiji retained his position as Director-General, while the committee’s responsibilities were narrowed to mobilising support for APC candidates contesting National Assembly and State House of Assembly seats in the 2027 elections.
The party also indicated that the revised committee would work with members of the existing Presidential Campaign Council to support President Tinubu’s re-election bid.
