By Hon. Comrade James Onifade 
…Hon Comrade James Onifade berates Osun APC
The political landscape of Osun State has become a disturbing theater of orchestrated attacks, judicial manipulation, and constitutional violations all directed at one man: Governor Ademola Adeleke. What we are witnessing is not mere political opposition but a calculated campaign of destabilization that threatens the very foundations of democratic governance in Nigeria. This is not just Governor Adeleke’s fight; it is a battle for the soul of democracy itself.
The Certificate Scandal That Never Was
Before Governor Adeleke’s first term, the Osun APC deployed perhaps their most insidious weapon: the falsification of academic credentials. They concocted elaborate lies about his educational qualifications, parading before courts and media with doctored documents and coached witnesses. This was character assassination masquerading as due diligence. This despicable tactic represents everything wrong with Nigerian politics.
When political parties resort to forgery and perjury to discredit opponents, they don’t just attack an individual they attack truth itself. The APC’s certificate scandal was a constitutional crime that should have landed its orchestrators in prison. Instead, they walked free, emboldened by a system that rewards political thuggery. That these lies failed is not a credit to our institutions but a testament to their sheer incompetence in executing their fraud. The courts that entertained these spurious claims without immediately sanctioning the perpetrators are complicit in this assault on democracy.
The Fake Video Industrial Complex
Not satisfied with their failed certificate fraud, the APC establishment invested in a propaganda machine that would make authoritarian regimes proud. They manufactured videos, manipulated footage, and disseminated deepfakes designed to portray Governor Adeleke as incompetent, immoral, or unstable.
This is digital terrorism. In an age where misinformation can destroy lives and destabilize nations, the APC’s deliberate creation and distribution of fake videos represents a threat to national security.These were not harmless campaign tactics they were weapons of mass deception.
Every Nigerian should be outraged that a major political party would weaponize technology to deceive the electorate. The Electoral Act should be amended to criminalize such conduct with severe penalties, including automatic disqualification and imprisonment. The fact that those responsible face no consequences reveals the rot at the heart of Nigeria’s political system.
The Procured Lawsuits: Judicial Terrorism
The APC didn’t just fight Governor Adeleke in the court of public opinion, they turned the judiciary itself into a battlefield, filing frivolous lawsuit after frivolous lawsuit, each one designed not to seek justice but to harass, delay, and delegitimize.
This abuse of the judicial system is an assault on every Nigerian who believes in the rule of law. When political parties treat courts as tools of oppression rather than temples of justice, they undermine the entire legal framework of our nation.
These vexatious litigations cost taxpayers millions, clog court dockets, and prevent genuine cases from being heard. Every judge who entertained these clearly malicious suits without imposing costs on the plaintiffs is guilty of enabling judicial abuse. Nigeria must reform its system to impose punitive damages on parties who file frivolous political lawsuits, and judges who fail to dismiss such cases promptly should face disciplinary action.
Once Governor Adeleke assumed office, the APC’s strategy evolved into something more sinister: economic strangulation. By manipulating federal allocations and withholding funds legitimately due to Osun State, they sought to cripple his administration and make governance impossible.
This is fiscal terrorism and a flagrant violation of Nigeria’s federal structure. The Constitution guarantees each state its share of federal resources, yet the APC has weaponized the federal treasury against a state whose only crime is electing a PDP governor. This is not politics, it is economic sabotage that punishes 4.7 million Osun residents for their democratic choice. Every single day that funds are withheld, schools lack resources, hospitals lack medicine, and infrastructure crumbles.
The APC’s financial blockade is a crime against the people of Osun State, and those responsible should be prosecuted for economic crimes against the Nigerian federation. If international bodies investigated this conduct, it would constitute economic crimes against humanity.
The APC’s corruption of the judiciary in Osun State represents perhaps the gravest threat to Nigerian democracy. Through intimidation, bribery, and political pressure, they have turned judges into political operatives who deliver predetermined verdicts.
The Backlash: When the judiciary becomes a weapon of partisan warfare, democracy dies. The courts that have consistently ruled against Governor Adeleke on transparently political grounds have destroyed their own legitimacy. Nigerian citizens must demand a complete overhaul of judicial appointment and oversight mechanisms. Every judge who has delivered suspicious rulings in politically charged cases involving Osun State should face investigation by an independent judicial commission. The National Judicial Council has failed Nigerians, and its leadership should be held accountable for allowing the judiciary to become a marketplace where justice is sold to the highest political bidder.
Perhaps nothing reveals the APC’s authoritarian instincts more clearly than their repeated threats to declare a state of emergency in Osun State, a state experiencing relative peace and demonstrable progress under Governor Adeleke’s leadership.
This threat is nothing less than a constitutional coup. The state of emergency provision exists to address genuine security crises, not to remove democratically elected governors who belong to opposition parties. If the APC succeeds in declaring a state of emergency in peaceful Osun State, they will have created a precedent that destroys federalism and converts Nigeria into a dictatorship where the ruling party can remove any opposition governor at will. This is how democracies die—not through military coups, but through the abuse of emergency powers by power-hungry politicians. International observers, civil society organizations, and every Nigerian who values democracy must declare clearly: any attempt to impose a state of emergency in Osun State will be regarded as a coup d’état and resisted accordingly.
The APC’s commando-style occupation of local governments in Osun State represents a new low in Nigerian political violence. Armed operatives forcefully seized control of local government offices, displacing elected officials in broad daylight.
This is political terrorism, plain and simple. What we witnessed in Osun was not politics but an armed insurrection against constitutional order. Those who planned and executed this operation are criminals who should be prosecuted for treason, armed robbery (they stole government property and funds), and terrorism. The security forces who enabled or failed to prevent this invasion are complicit and should face court-martial.
The fact that federal security apparatus allowed this to happen or worse, facilitated it reveals that Nigeria is governed by a criminal enterprise masquerading as a political party. If armed gangs can seize government institutions without consequences, Nigeria has ceased to be a nation of laws.
The Local Government Funds Seizure: Organized Theft
For nearly a year, the APC has illegally withheld local government funds allocated to Osun State, yet Governor Adeleke has continued to pay workers, maintain health centers, and repair roads from state resources.
This is grand larceny on an unprecedented scale. The APC has stolen billions of naira belonging to the people of Osun State money meant for grassroots development, primary healthcare, and basic infrastructure.Every day these funds are withheld, children suffer in dilapidated schools, patients die in under-resourced health centers, and communities languish in darkness. This is not a policy dispute it is organized crime.
Those responsible for withholding these funds should be arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned for theft of public funds. That Governor Adeleke has managed to maintain services despite this robbery is not a mitigating factor it is evidence of his extraordinary leadership and makes the APC’s theft even more unconscionable.
The APC deployed internal saboteurs political mercenaries tasked with tearing apart Governor Adeleke’s party from within, attempting to leave him without a platform for re-election.
This strategy of infiltration and destruction reveals the APC’s contempt for democratic principles. Rather than building their own party and presenting their own vision, they invest in sabotaging opponents from within.
These political mercenaries: “hyenas” as they are aptly called are traitors to democratic values who sell their loyalty to the highest bidder. Nigerian politics will never mature until such characters are exposed and ostracized. Political parties must be protected by law from such infiltration, and individuals who accept payment to sabotage their parties should face criminal prosecution for electoral fraud.
The Fake Factional Primaries: Electoral Fraud 2.0
Unable to defeat Governor Adeleke through legitimate means, the APC has now resorted to manufacturing fake factional primaries designed to create confusion and potentially remove him from the ballot.
This is electoral fraud of the highest order a premeditated conspiracy to disenfranchise millions of Osun voters by eliminating their preferred candidate through fabricated internal party conflicts.
INEC must decisively reject these fraudulent primaries and prosecute their organizers for electoral crimes. If the APC succeeds with this strategy, they will have perfected a method for eliminating any opposition candidate regardless of popular support. This represents an existential threat to Nigerian democracy. International election observers must be deployed immediately to monitor and document these criminal conspiracies.
APC operatives have openly boasted of using “federal might” to deploy security forces for electoral manipulation an admission of planned electoral crimes made in public without shame or fear of consequences. This open confession of planned electoral fraud should shock the conscience of every Nigerian. When a political party publicly announces its intention to use state security apparatus to rig elections, and faces no immediate consequences, we have confirmation that Nigeria is governed by a criminal syndicate.
These boasts should trigger immediate investigations by security agencies but the security agencies are themselves implicated in the conspiracy. The international community must impose sanctions on Nigerian officials who abuse security forces for electoral manipulation. Visa bans, asset freezes, and ICC referrals should be deployed against those who openly declare their intention to subvert democracy.
The Absence of Trust in Democratic Competition
The APC’s behavior reveals a party that fundamentally does not believe it can win free and fair elections. They don’t trust their record, their candidates, or their appeal to voters.
This lack of confidence in democratic competition exposes the APC as a party sustained by manipulation rather than merit. A political party that resorts to threats, intimidation, bribery, and manipulation is a party that knows it has nothing to offer voters.
The APC’s behavior in Osun State is an admission of failure a confession that their governance has been so disastrous that they cannot risk allowing voters a free choice. This should disqualify them from holding power. Nigerians must recognize that a party that cannot win without cheating does not deserve to govern.
Throughout this onslaught, Governor Adeleke has maintained remarkable composure. He preaches peace while his opponents preach violence. He has paid arrears owed to APC members from previous administrations. He has approved privileges for opposition leaders. He adopted the APC’s presidential candidate and has never publicly disrespected the President.
This dignified conduct stands in stark contrast to the APC’s viciousness and exposes their attacks as purely malicious. Governor Adeleke’s restraint is not weakness it is the discipline of a leader secure in his mandate and confident in his record. While his enemies plot in darkness, he works in daylight, delivering tangible benefits to Osun citizens. History will record that while the APC deployed every weapon of political warfare, Governor Adeleke responded with governance, grace, and an unshakeable faith in divine justice.
Despite the APC’s comprehensive assault legal warfare, economic strangulation, judicial manipulation, military intimidation, and electoral fraud, Governor Adeleke remains “calm, quiet, joyful and hopeful in God.” His famous dancing, once mocked by opponents, has become a symbol of resilience and joy in the face of persecution.
The people of Osun State have witnessed both the APC’s cruelty and Governor Adeleke’s grace. They have seen who builds and who destroys, who serves and who sabotages, who trusts the people and who fears them.
All will indeed be well with Governor Adeleke and with everyone who truly loves Osun State. Not because the APC will suddenly develop a conscience or abandon their criminal tactics, but because ultimately, no amount of manipulation can permanently suppress the will of a determined people.
The APC’s atrocities against Governor Adeleke are not just attacks on one man they are attacks on democracy, on federalism, on the rule of law, and on the very idea that Nigerians deserve leaders who serve rather than oppress them.
The verdict of history is already written: Governor Adeleke will be vindicated, his persecutors will be remembered in infamy, and Osun State will continue its march toward progress despite those who would rather see it fail than see their opponent succeed.
Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin