The Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has backed the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Osun State, Bola Oyebamiji, describing him as the candidate best suited to manage the state\u2019s finances and economy.<\/p>\n
Ajayi made the assessment following a town hall meeting organised by Arise TV for candidates contesting the August 15, 2026, Osun governorship election.<\/p>\n
Oyebamiji is contesting against the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party, and the African Democratic Congress candidate, Najeem Salam, among others.<\/p>\n
In a statement shared on his X account on Wednesday, Ajayi said Oyebamiji demonstrated a stronger understanding of governance, fiscal management and public administration during the town hall.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Ajayi, Oyebamiji distinguished himself through his experience as a former banker and Commissioner for Finance under the administrations of former governors Rauf Aregbesola and Gboyega Oyetola.<\/p>\n
He said the APC candidate spoke extensively about his experience managing public finances and his role at Osun State Investment Holdings, where he claimed to have helped turn around the organisation and build a substantial real estate portfolio in Lagos and Abuja.<\/p>\n
Ajayi also highlighted Oyebamiji\u2019s claim that the Oyetola administration met its financial obligations without fresh borrowing and left about N16bn in the state treasury before handing over to the succeeding administration.<\/p>\n
The presidential aide said the governorship election should be based on candidates\u2019 records, policies and managerial competence rather than popularity.<\/p>\n
He, however, criticised Adeleke\u2019s performance at the town hall, saying the governor spent considerable time attacking former governors Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Oyetola instead of focusing on the achievements of his administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitical attacks may excite loyalists, but they are not substitutes for a convincing account of stewardship,\u201d Ajayi said.<\/p>\n
Ajayi also faulted Salam\u2019s campaign promises, arguing that his proposed free services and expansive government interventions lacked sufficient explanation of how they would be funded.<\/p>\n
The Osun governorship election is scheduled for Saturday, August 15, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Osun Needs CEO, Not Entertainer –\u00a0 Tinubu\u2019s Aide The Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has backed the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Osun State, Bola Oyebamiji, describing him as the candidate best suited to manage the state\u2019s finances and economy. Ajayi made the assessment following a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}