Osogbo, Nigeria – December 2, 2025 – Osun State Governor Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke has resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with immediate effect, dealing a devastating blow to Nigeria’s main opposition party just eight months before the 2026 governorship election.
The governor’s resignation letter, dated November 4, 2025, and addressed to the PDP chairman of Ward 02, Ede North Local Government Area — his home ward — was personally signed by Adeleke and formally received the same day. In the brief but explosive document, the governor thanked the PDP for the platform that enabled him to win the Osun West senatorial by-election in 2017 and the governorship election in 2022, but declared that the ongoing crisis at the national leadership level of the party had left him with no choice but to quit.
“Due to the current crisis of the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), I hereby resign my membership of the PDP with immediate effect,” Adeleke wrote.
The announcement came barely 24 hours before the PDP’s scheduled governorship primary in Osun State, which had been fixed for Monday, December 1, 2025, at the Atlantic Multipurpose Hall in Osogbo. Adeleke was the sole aspirant who purchased and returned the party’s expression of interest and nomination forms. Hours before the exercise, however, the state chapter abruptly postponed the primary indefinitely, citing the unresolved national leadership crisis that has split the party into bitterly opposed factions.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Osun PDP Chairman Hon. Sunday Bisi confirmed that the national crisis had made it impossible to proceed. “The information reaching me is that Governor Ademola Adeleke may no longer be interested in seeking the ticket of the PDP for the 2026 election except the national crisis is resolved in a manner recognized by INEC within the timeline,” Bisi told journalists.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has set December 15, 2025, as the deadline for political parties to submit names of candidates for the August 8, 2026, Osun governorship election.
Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, explained that the governor’s resignation was a strategic move to protect his political future. Appearing on a popular Osogbo radio programme on Tuesday morning, Alimi disclosed that elements within the Osun APC had been banking on the PDP’s national crisis to drag Adeleke to court and challenge any ticket he emerged with from a “factional” primary. “The governor saw the trap from afar and decided to walk away from a divided house,” Alimi said.
He confirmed that Adeleke had held high-level discussions months earlier about a possible return to the All Progressives Congress (APC) — the party he left in 2017 — and that President Bola Tinubu was favourably disposed to the idea. However, fierce opposition from the old APC guard in Osun, particularly loyalists of former Governor Rauf Aregbesola, scuttled that plan.
Alimi hinted that the governor’s new political platform would be unveiled before December 15, 2025, stressing that the choice would neither be the APC, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), nor the Labour Party. Political observers believe the Accord Party, which has no entrenched factional baggage in the South-West, is the most likely destination.
Adeleke’s exit makes him the fifth serving PDP governor to dump the party in 2025, following Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Peter Mbah (Enugu), and Douye Diri (Bayelsa). The defections have reduced the number of states controlled by the PDP to single digits and cast serious doubt on the party’s ability to present a united front against the ruling APC in the 2027 presidential election.
The PDP has been in turmoil since its chaotic national convention in Ibadan on November 16, 2025, which produced two parallel national chairmen and multiple court cases. Adeleke was noticeably absent from that convention, a clear sign of his growing frustration with the Umar Damagum–led National Working Committee.
For Osun State, the development throws the 2026 governorship race wide open. Former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC, who lost to Adeleke by just 3,371 votes in 2022, is widely expected to seek a return. Without Adeleke on its platform, the PDP risks losing one of its strongest remaining footholds in the South-West.
Across social media, Nigerians expressed shock and amusement in equal measure. The hashtag #AdelekeResigns trended nationwide, with many praising the governor’s decisiveness and others lamenting the collapse of the PDP. “The dancing senator has danced out of PDP,” one viral post quipped, referencing Adeleke’s famous campaign dance moves.
As Osun citizens digest the news, one thing is certain: Governor Ademola Adeleke, the man who rose from Atlanta businessman to two-term governor on the strength of his family name and personal charisma, is preparing for the biggest political gamble of his career — and he intends to make the announcement on his own terms before the year runs out.
