A few days to Saturday’s governorship election, one question keeps circling back in Osun’s political conversations: where does President Bola Tinubu actually stand?
The election is, on the surface, another off-cycle contest between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the president’s party, and incumbent governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party, seeking a second term.
In reality, it has become something larger. The election has become a test of President Tinubu’s authority within the APC, his personal relationships, and his ability to manage competing interests within the ruling party.
Unlike previous off-cycle elections, Osun presents the president with an unusually delicate political equation.
Mr Tinubu’s ancestral roots are widely traced to Iragbiji in Boripe Local Government Area of Osun State, the hometown of former governor Gboyega Oyetola, his cousin and one of his closest political allies. Mr Oyetola remains a key figure in the APC and now serves as Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.
