PDP Group Slams Gov. Adeleke Over Tinubu Endorsement, Demands Sanctions from National Leadership

A political advocacy group within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), known as the PDP Rescue Initiative, has strongly condemned the recent endorsement of President Bola Tinubu for reelection in 2027 by Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, and the state’s PDP working committee. The group is calling on the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to impose immediate disciplinary measures against the governor and other collaborators.

The group made its position known in a statement issued on Monday and signed by its spokesperson, Abiodun Taiwo, describing the governor’s endorsement of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal administration as “a betrayal of party loyalty and a dangerous act of sabotage.”

“The public endorsement of President Tinubu by Governor Adeleke, a sitting PDP governor, at a time when our great party is yet to open the floor for presidential nominations, is both premature and disgraceful,” Taiwo said. “It reeks of opportunism, personal interest, and a calculated attempt to undermine the PDP’s rebuilding efforts ahead of 2027.”

While the PDP is still navigating its post-2023 electoral challenges and charting a course for internal reconciliation and strategic repositioning, the group said Governor Adeleke’s action threatens to create further divisions within the party, especially in the South West zone.

“This is not just an affront to the party’s constitution and discipline; it is a dangerous precedent. The governor appears more interested in preserving his seat through the President than working to rescue Nigeria from the policies and governance failures of the APC,” the statement continued.

The PDP Rescue Initiative warned the party leadership not to underestimate the damage this kind of anti-party conduct could inflict on the PDP’s national credibility and future electoral strength.

“We are watching the emergence of another Wike scenario,” the group said, referring to the former Rivers State Governor who openly clashed with the PDP in the build-up to the 2023 elections. “Adeleke must be called to order before his actions plunge the Osun chapter and perhaps the entire South West into another wave of internal crisis.”

The group further called for a formal investigation into the motives behind Adeleke’s endorsement and urged the PDP’s National Working Committee to act decisively.

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“We are not opposed to bridge-building or constructive political engagement. However, to openly endorse a sitting APC president for re-election — when the PDP has not even set its internal democratic process in motion — is not strategy. It is sabotage,” Taiwo added.

It will be recalled that Governor Ademola Adeleke, who won the 2022 Osun State governorship election under the PDP banner, has in recent weeks made increasingly warm public remarks about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. His most recent endorsement, reportedly made during a public event in Osogbo, praised the president’s economic reforms and leadership style — statements that drew criticism from PDP supporters across the country.

The Osun State PDP working committee was also reported to have aligned with Adeleke in his endorsement,further deepening suspicion about a coordinated shift in allegiance within the state’s party structure.

The PDP is yet to make any official comment on the matter, but internal rumblings suggest that party elders and stakeholders are already weighing the potential fallout.

“We demand an unambiguous public condemnation from the party’s national leadership,” the Rescue Initiative stated. “Anything less will embolden others to flout party discipline and undermine our collective mission to rescue Nigeria.”

The group reaffirmed its commitment to party unity and called on all members to rally around PDP principles rather than personal interests.