Adeleke, Osun Governor-Elect, Weeps On National Television Over Late Brother

By Adesina Soyooye

It was a very emotional scene to watch when Senator Ademola Adeleke, Governor -elect, Osun State, broke down in tears on National Television on Monday.

For about two minutes he wept. He sobbed. It took his interviewer, Seun Okinbaloye, to calm him down.

The Governor-elect had appeared on Channels Television’s flagship interview programme, Politics Today, to speak on his historic victory at the July 16, 2022,  Governorship Polls. Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, beat other candidates, including the incumbent Governor, Gboyega Oyetola.

To achieve the feat, he won 17 of the 30 Local Government Areas of the State. Governor  Oyetola won 13, while the rest of the others won none.

The dam burst when Okinbaloye asked Governor-elect Adeleke if his victory reminded him of his late elder brother, Senator Isiaka Adeleke. The elder Adeleke was a pioneer Governor of the State, as well as a two-term Senator – first under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and later, under the All Progressives Congress, APC. He was on his way back to office when he, suddenly, inexplicably died on April 23, 2017.

The APC was expected to give the ticket to his younger brother, Ademola, who was no Politician at the time, to contest in his stead. When the Party disappointed at the last minute, the PDP offered him the ticket. He won.

In 2018, the now Governor-elect contested for the Governorship seat of  the State, and in what was seen, almost, as brazen, was robbed of victory.

The election of July 16, 2022, was his second time.

Answering a question on his late elder brother, Adeleke burst into tears, and said his brother died for the cause of Osun State. He said he died in his fight to give Osun people a better life.

He dedicated his victory to his late elder brother, and said that wherever his brother is now, he would be happy that he, his younger brother, has stepped in to fulfill his dreams for the people.