AAC governorship candidate Olajide Esan blasts Oyebamiji, Adeleke for running away from debate

By Isa Isawade

Candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 15 August 2026 Osun Governorship Election, Mr Olajide Esan, on Saturday took a swipe on the candidates of the All Progressives Congress and the Accord Party, Mr Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji and Governor Ademola Adeleke, respectively, for refusing to show up at the election debate scheduled to take place at the Aurora Events, Osogbo today.

The all-important debate was to commence by 3:00PM with participants already streaming in.

Candidate Esan arrived with his people a few minutes before schedule and sat patiently, waiting for the other contestants- Oyebamiji, Adeleke and the African Democratic Congress candidate, Najeem Salaam.

Participants who were already seated and journalists who had set their equipment, wondering why other candidates were yet to show up, were shocked when suddenly at about 3:30PM information filtered in that the debate had been ordered cancelled, allegedly by the the National Broadcasting Commission.

An angry Esan mounted the podium to register his irritation with the attitude of other candidates, calling on Osun electorate to wake up and reject, at the poll, those who were afraid to appear before them.

Esan noted that the same set of leaders who led the country to her current unhealthy state could no lead her to solution.

“They are asked to come and talk to the people they are promising to serve, you can see that they are not here. You can’t see the APC candidate here. You can’t see the Accord candidate here and unfortunately, ADC candidate is also not here.

“You can see what they have turned our country to. It is high time we understood that these characters have nothing tangible to offer. It is high time we woke up to this reality of our modern society that politicians and career criminals in political offices have only been taking advantage of the same problems they created. If they actually want to serve you, they would have been able to come before the people they are promising to serve.

“That is why AAC, the only ideological based political party in Nigeria is here to liberate our youths, wake them all to the reality of our society that those who benefit from our problems can never offer us any solution. It is high time we understood this. AAC’s aim is to give governance back to the people, to make sure that Osun people are the ones in charge of the leadership of the state and not the ones who run the state as family business,” Olajide Esan said at the event.

He urged electorate in the country to stop mortgaging their lives by collecting handouts from politicians who seek their votes, adding that anybody wanting to genuinely serve would not bribe to get to the office.

The organisers much later said the decision to cancel the debate was “unanimously reached following unfavourable security reports and the reluctance of some of the leading governorship candidates to participate under the prevailing circumstances.”

According to them, the cancellation became necessary in the interest of public safety and to prevent any situation that could endanger participants, invited guests, media personnel, and members of the public.

It will be recalled that the APC and its candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, was also absent at the peace pact put in place by the National Peace Committee (NPC), headed former Head of State Abdulsalam Abubakar on Thursday in Osogbo. His Deputy governorship candidate Kayode Adereti only appeared when the event had ended.