Osun election: The candidates, the Stakes, and why PDP isn’t running
Osun State will vote for a new governor on Saturday, August 15, 2026, in what has arguably become one of the most closely watched governorship races in the country this year. Fourteen political parties have fielded candidates, but the contest has ultimately narrowed to three real contenders.
The first candidate is Governor Ademola Adeleke who, unable to secure the PDP ticket in time, left the party in November 2025 and joined the Accord Party instead, taking much of his political structure with him. That makes him the first sitting Osun governor in recent memory to seek re-election under a different party from the one that first put him in office and it has turned what many expected to be a straightforward PDP-versus-APC rematch into a genuine three-way race.
The PDP’s absence carries weight beyond Osun. It leaves the party with only one governor left in Nigeria’s South-West, a region the opposition had hoped to contest more seriously ahead of 2027. Adeleke also enters the race visibly weakened: some lawmakers loyal to him defected to the APC rather than follow him to Accord, and a group of PDP heavyweights, including a former Osun governor, has publicly switched sides to back his main rival. Osun also has a history of close elections ending up in court — the 2022 result was contested all the way to the Supreme Court — so a legal challenge to this year’s outcome is widely expected too.
Adeleke is running for a second term on his three-year record, and is banking on continued support within the civil service, a bloc that has swung past Osun elections. His main challenger, Bola Oyebamiji, known as “AMBO,” is a banker who currently heads the National Inland Waterways Authority. He carries the APC’s established party machinery into the race and has picked up a growing number of defectors from Adeleke’s camp. The third contender, Najeem Salaam, a former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, is running under the ADC, the party several opposition figures nationally have been consolidating around.
Eleven smaller parties have also fielded candidates, though none are considered serious contenders. All 14 parties have signed a peace accord ahead of polling day, and INEC says it is committed to a transparent and peaceful election. Voting takes place across Osun’s 30 local government areas on August 15, with results expected within days.
