Femi Ashekun/
The cryptic words of Aviation and Aerospace Development Minister, Festus Keyamo — “Agreement is agreement” — have injected a fresh political dimension into Governor Ademola Adeleke’s renewed endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election.
Adeleke, speaking after his re-election as Osun State governor, thanked Tinubu for what he described as a free and fair election and reaffirmed his earlier support for the President’s bid for a second term.
“I must deeply appreciate the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for a free and fair election,” Adeleke said.
“I hereby reaffirm my earlier endorsement of him for a second term in the 2027 presidential election.”
Keyamo responded on X with an unusually pointed message.
“Thank you, Governor Ademola Adeleke, for the public and unequivocal endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT for the 2027 Presidential Election.”
The minister then added: “You are a man of integrity and honour. ‘Agreement is agreement.’”
That final sentence has immediately raised questions about whether Adeleke’s longstanding support for Tinubu is connected to a broader political understanding between the governor and the President.
There is, however, no publicly established evidence of the terms of any such agreement. Neither Tinubu nor Adeleke has disclosed a political pact involving the 2027 presidential election, and Keyamo did not explain what agreement he was referring to.
What can be established is that Adeleke’s endorsement of Tinubu is not new, that the governor had been linked to a possible move into the APC before eventually choosing Accord as his platform, that sections of the Osun APC resisted the prospect of him receiving an automatic governorship ticket, and that the issue generated considerable political controversy before the election.
It is this documented sequence that makes Keyamo’s choice of words particularly consequential.
Adeleke’s wording is significant because he did not present his support for Tinubu as a new position arising from his victory.
He specifically said he was reaffirming his earlier endorsement. That position had already been publicly expressed months before Saturday’s election.
In March, Adeleke said: “We have no problem with President Tinubu. He is our leader. He represents the South West.”
He added: “I restate our endorsement of Mr President for re-election in the best interest of the South West.”
The governor made the remarks while distinguishing his relationship with Tinubu from his political dispute with former Osun governor, Gboyega Oyetola, who is now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.
Adeleke reiterated the position in May after the Federal Executive Council approved rehabilitation works on major federal roads in Osun.
He praised Tinubu and expressed hope for an even stronger relationship between the federal and state governments.
The political significance of Sunday’s statement, therefore, lies less in the endorsement itself than in Keyamo’s apparent interpretation of it as the fulfilment or reaffirmation of an agreement.
For months before his defection from the PDP, there were reports that Adeleke was considering joining the APC.
Those reports eventually became sufficiently prominent to trigger open opposition within the Osun APC to the possibility that the governor could enter the party and receive its governorship ticket without a contest.
In July 2025, APC members protested at the party’s state secretariat in Osogbo against the reported prospect of an automatic ticket for Adeleke.
The protesters said they were not opposed to Adeleke joining the party but insisted that he should compete with other aspirants for the ticket.
Subsequent media reports claimed that Oyetola, regarded as the leader of the Osun APC, had opposed granting Adeleke automatic control of the party’s governorship ticket if he defected.
A report quoted a political source as saying: “Oyetola insisted that even if he had come, he would not be provided with an automatic ticket.”
It also reported that some APC leaders feared that Adeleke would immediately become the dominant political figure in the state if he joined the party.
In June this year, Adeleke’s spokesman, Olawale Rasheed, directly addressed claims that the governor had rejected invitations from Tinubu to join the APC.
The Osun State Government said Adeleke “did not at any point in time reject” Tinubu’s invitation.
Rasheed said: “Governor Adeleke responded to the invitation of Mr President. He actually met the President with his family members.”
He further alleged that the process was subsequently “truncated” by Oyetola and the Osun APC.
The claims surrounding a possible Tinubu-Adeleke understanding were also publicly contested before the election.
In April, five APC members of the National Assembly representing Osun dismissed suggestions that Tinubu had assured Adeleke of support for the governorship election.
The lawmakers said Tinubu had not promised Adeleke support for the August election.
In March, the media organisation of APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, similarly dismissed reports that Tinubu had entered into an agreement with Adeleke to support his re-election, describing the claim as unfounded.
By June, the Osun APC was publicly insisting that Tinubu’s support was for its own candidate, Oyebamiji, rather than Adeleke.
The party’s campaign leadership described reports of a Tinubu endorsement of Adeleke as false and misleading.
Against that backdrop, Keyamo’s decision to respond to Adeleke’s victory speech with the words “Agreement is agreement” carries more political weight than a conventional congratulatory message.
It is equally instructive that the President did not make a personal campaign appearance in Osun for Oyebamiji during the governorship race.
That is politically notable given the conventional importance of a sitting President’s physical presence in a governorship campaign, particularly where the candidate belongs to the President’s own party.
Adeleke has now won a second term with 511,067 votes, defeating Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes.
The margin was 66,252 votes.
The governor won 19 of Osun’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji won 11.
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