THE Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has declared his unwavering support for the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the upcoming Osun State governorship election, Bola Oyebamiji, saying the candidate made the stronger case for why he understands the job of governing the state.
News Point Nigeria reports that Ajayi’s position comes on the heels of a town hall meeting organised by Arise TV for candidates contesting the August 15, 2026, governorship election in Osun State.
Oyebamiji faces opposition from Najeem Salam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke, who is seeking a second term under the platform of the Accord Party.
Describing Oyebamiji’s profile and suitability for the governor’s seat, Ajayi took to his X handle on Wednesday, saying the APC candidate, during the town hall meeting, “made the stronger case that he understands that job.”
During their separate interviews in the course of the town hall meeting, Adeleke spoke about his administration’s scorecard during his first four years in office, while Oyebamiji explained how he would transform the state across various developmental areas.
Ajayi, however, stated, “That is a useful way to look at the Osun election. The state is not recruiting an entertainer, a professional campaigner or a permanent opposition politician. It is recruiting a chief executive to manage a financially constrained public enterprise called Osun State. On the evidence of what I saw at the town hall, Oyebamiji made the stronger case that he understands that job.”
The presidential aide further tweeted that “if the exercise is judged strictly on policy articulation, command of facts, fiscal realism and evidence of managerial competence, I will candidly say Oyebamiji came out ahead. He appeared to understand government as a management responsibility rather than merely a platform for political performance.
“His emphasis was on how public resources should be managed to lift people out of social and economic difficulty, rather than become instruments of personal or familial aggrandisement.”
Ajayi said Oyebamiji’s experience as a former Commissioner for Finance under the administrations of former Governors Rauf Aregbesola and Gboyega Oyetola gave the APC candidate an advantage, as he “presented himself as someone who has actually managed public finances rather than just speaking about them.”
The tweet read further, “In a state with a history of fiscal constraints, promising everything without convincingly explaining the financing is not social policy, but fiscal romanticism. Oyebamiji, by contrast, played to his professional strength. A former banker and finance commissioner, he demonstrated a firmer grasp of the numbers and the mechanics of government. He cited his stewardship of Osun State Investment Holdings, where he said he helped turn around the organisation and, in the process, build a substantial real estate portfolio in Lagos and Abuja.
“He also spoke about his tenure as Commissioner of Finance and the fiscal pressures the Aregbesola administration faced. More importantly, he presented himself as someone who has actually managed public finances rather than just speaking about them. He argued that under Oyetola, when he served as the state’s financial manager, the government met its obligations without fresh borrowing and left about N16 billion in the treasury for the incoming administration. Those claims can be independently verified.
“But that, in itself, is the point. A governorship election should be an audit of competing records, plans and managerial capacity, not a popularity contest between personalities. Oyebamiji made the most interesting argument of the townhall sessions when he essentially asked voters to imagine the three candidates sitting before a recruiter who had to choose one of them to manage a business. Looking at their qualifications, experience, temperament and understanding of finance, whom would the recruiter hire?”
Ajayi also lamented that rather than using the meeting “to make a compelling case for what his administration has achieved” and what he had achieved in office, Adeleke “spent considerable time attacking former governors Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Gboyega Oyetola.”
He further described the governor’s outing at the meeting as “forceful and combative.”
“Political attacks may excite loyalists, but they are not substitutes for a convincing account of stewardship. This is particularly important because Adeleke is seeking a second term. A candidate asking voters for another four years should be able to make the election principally about his record, not the shortcomings of predecessors,” the tweet added.
Turning to the ADC candidate, Ajayi said Najeem Salam was perhaps the most ambitious in his promises at the town hall, but argued that this was also his major problem.
He continued, “Najeem Salam was perhaps the most ambitious in his promises, but that was also his problem. His offer of free services and expansive government intervention sounded attractive, but there was insufficient attention to the harder question of how Osun would pay for them. If he became governor, he would become another Aregbesola in office with bogus programmes and unsustainable projects and throw Osun State into a fiscal cul-de-sac.”