Ajagunla, Kunle Adegoke and the need to save Osun APC from a needless war of attrition, By Tolu Babawale

The reported denial by Senator Olubiyi Oluwole Fadeyi, popularly known as Ajagunla, that he has not instituted any lawsuit against the candidacy of Kunle Adegoke, SAN, popularly known as K-Rad, as the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Osun Central Senatorial District is contradicted by the Federal High Court cause list now in circulation.

The cause list of Court 1 of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Osogbo Judicial Division, for Monday, 15 June 2026, shows that Suit No. FHC/OS/CS/95/2026, between Sen. Olubiyi Oluwole Fadeyi and Rasheed Adekunle Adegoke, SAN & 2 Ors, is listed for hearing before Hon. Justice Adefunmilola A. Demi-Ajayi. That fact is clear, direct and verifiable.

This development is troubling. Senator Fadeyi has already submitted an appeal petition before the APC post-primary appeal committee. Having invoked the party’s internal dispute-resolution process, political discipline required him to await its outcome. Rushing to court while the party process is still pending portrays impatience and sends the wrong signal at a time when the party should be managing grievances with maturity.

Osun APC is approaching a crucial governorship election in less than seventy days. This is the time for reconciliation, mobilisation and strategic consolidation, not litigation, suspicion and avoidable distraction. A party preparing for such a critical election cannot afford to burden itself with a needless war of attrition.

There is also a deeper political concern. Recent returnees from the PDP appear to be taking advantage of the ego struggle between Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, and Senator Ajibola Basiru, National Secretary of the APC, to position themselves for control of the party structure in Osun State. Already, two of the three APC senatorial tickets in the state have gone to new entrants from the PDP. The third, won by Kunle Adegoke, SAN, an old and long-standing party loyalist who is also the party’s lawyer, is now being targeted.

Even more curious is the role being attributed to Hon. Wole Oke, another recent returnee from the PDP and now Director-General of the APC governorship campaign in Osun State. He is reported to be mounting pressure to have the Osun Central senatorial ticket retrieved from Kunle Adegoke, SAN and handed to Senator Olubiyi Oluwole Fadeyi, his fellow returnee. This is politically unhealthy and strategically dangerous.

The identity of counsel in the Federal High Court suit further strengthens the concern. The suit was filed by Mr. Edmund Z. Biriomoni, the personal lawyer of Senator Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi. That fact gives strong colour to the suspicion that some returnees are working as a bloc to capture the party from within, while taking advantage of the ongoing internal contest between their political landlords.

The question many observers are now asking is simple: how did Osun APC arrive at the point where old and committed members, who have laboured for years for the party, are being made to take instructions from new entrants whose loyalty is still being tested? How does a party reward sacrifice if strategic tickets and campaign authority are handed to those who only recently returned from the opposition?

No serious party treats loyalty as worthless. No serious party goes into a major election with its internal house on fire. And no serious party allows returnee ambition, personal rivalry and post-primary bitterness to distract it from the larger battle ahead.

Osun APC must therefore act quickly and wisely. Senator Olubiyi Oluwole Fadeyi should allow the party appeal process to run its course. The party leadership must also reassure old members that loyalty, sacrifice and institutional commitment still matter. Above all, the party must not allow a few desperate interests to turn a winnable election into a self-inflicted crisis.

The real issue is no longer merely between Senator Olubiyi Oluwole Fadeyi and Kunle Adegoke, SAN. The larger issue is whether Osun APC will discipline itself, protect its old structures, manage its new entrants carefully, and face the governorship election as a united party. At this moment, Osun APC needs healing, not hostility; loyalty, not opportunism; and unity, not a reckless struggle for domination.

Tolu Babawale, a political scientist and youth leader, writes from Iba in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Osun State