All Progressives Congress National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka made a forceful Adeleke defeat claim in Lagos on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, arguing that Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke is vulnerable ahead of the governorship election scheduled for Saturday, August 15, while APC candidate Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji seeks to unseat the incumbent.

Speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time, Morka described Adeleke as “utterly defeatable” and criticised what he characterised as the governor’s record in office.

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“Governor Adeleke is utterly defeatable. His record has been very lacklustre. He has been very dismal in his performance as governor,” Morka said, according to reports of the interview.

Morka went further to accuse the administration of underperformance in key public services, particularly health and education.

Those allegations represent the APC’s political assessment rather than independently established findings, and the Adeleke administration has consistently presented a different account of its record.

The exchange comes just days before Osun voters are due to choose their governor. The Independent National Electoral Commission has fixed Saturday, August 15, for the poll across the state.

The contest has increasingly centred on Adeleke and Oyebamiji, although other candidates are also on the ballot.

A recent assessment by The Nation identified Accord’s Adeleke, APC’s Oyebamiji and African Democratic Congress candidate Najeem Salam as the principal contenders in the race.

For the APC, the argument is straightforward. The party believes dissatisfaction with Adeleke’s administration, combined with its own grassroots organisation, can produce a change of government.

APC campaign officials have been equally confident. In April, campaign council Director-General Oluwole Oke said the party would remove Adeleke before 10pm on election day and install Oyebamiji as governor.

Oyebamiji, a former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority and former Osun finance commissioner, has also sought to frame the election around competence, accountability and economic management.

He has repeatedly presented himself as the APC’s candidate for a change of direction in the state.

The APC’s confidence, however, is being matched by equally emphatic claims from Adeleke.

The governor has repeatedly predicted victory over Oyebamiji. In April, Adeleke said he was certain he would defeat the APC candidate before 4pm on election day, citing internal polling figures that he claimed showed his approval rating between 68 and 72 per cent.

“The people of Osun have spoken, they are strongly behind us in ACCORD, and that is all that matters,” Adeleke said at the time. He described the August 15 contest as “a formality”.

Those figures have not been independently verified, and the competing claims illustrate the difficulty of predicting the outcome from campaign rhetoric alone.

The political stakes are heightened by Adeleke’s own electoral history. He defeated then-incumbent APC governor Gboyega Oyetola in the 2022 governorship election, winning 403,371 votes against Oyetola’s 375,027.

Adeleke carried 17 of Osun’s 30 local government areas, while Oyetola won the other 13.

The 2022 result was subsequently challenged in court. The Osun Governorship Election Petition Tribunal initially nullified Adeleke’s victory and declared Oyetola the winner after deducting votes it deemed affected by over-voting.

That ruling was later overturned on appeal, allowing Adeleke to remain governor.

The political landscape has changed since that election. Adeleke is now seeking another term under the Accord Party, while the APC is attempting to reclaim the state with Oyebamiji as its standard-bearer.

The campaign has also unfolded against concerns about political tension and electoral conduct.

Yiaga Africa warned in July about alleged voter inducement and reports of cash transfers of about N10,000 to prospective voters, while also urging stakeholders to prevent violence from undermining the credibility of the election.

There have also been competing allegations over political violence. Adeleke has accused APC figures of encouraging attacks, allegations the opposition has rejected.

In July, the governor called for stronger action against those responsible for political violence and stressed that the election should not come at the cost of lives.

Yet there have been moments of restraint amid the increasingly heated campaign.

and Oyebamiji were publicly commended in July after displaying cordiality at the funeral of the late mother of APC National Secretary Ajibola Basiru.

The gesture was viewed by the Osun Development Association as an encouraging example of political civility.

That contrast captures the mood surrounding Saturday’s election. The rhetoric has become sharper as the vote approaches, but the central question remains whether Osun voters will reward continuity under Adeleke or give Oyebamiji and the APC an opportunity to return to power.

For Morka and the APC, Adeleke’s record is the foundation of their case for change. For the governor and his supporters, the record of the past four years is instead evidence that the incumbent deserves another mandate.

The decisive assessment will come from Osun voters themselves when polling opens on August 15.

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INEC has confirmed the date, and the credibility of the result will depend not on the competing predictions from the two camps but on whether voters can cast their ballots freely and have those votes accurately reflected in the final declaration.