Adeleke denies secret deal with Tinubu after Keyamo’s ‘agreement is agreement’ remark sparks storm

Did Adeleke cut a deal with Tinubu to win Osun? The evidence, the denials and the questions that remain

Three words from Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo have blown open one of the most politically loaded questions in Nigerian politics right now: did Osun Governor Ademola Adeleke strike a secret deal with President Bola Tinubu in exchange for a free and fair election in Osun State?

The controversy erupted Sunday after Adeleke, fresh from winning re-election with 511,067 votes against APC’s Bola Oyebamiji’s 444,815, publicly reaffirmed his endorsement of Tinubu for a second presidential term in 2027, describing the president as “a son of Osun State.” Keyamo responded on X with what many read as a knowing confirmation of a prior arrangement: “Agreement is agreement,” calling Adeleke “a man of integrity and honour,” according to Channels Television.

The reaction was swift and fierce. Nigerians on social media immediately seized on Keyamo’s phrasing as an implicit admission that Adeleke’s 2027 endorsement of Tinubu — a member of the rival APC — was the price of presidential non-interference in the Osun election.

Adeleke Fires Back: ‘I Never Reached Agreement With Mr President’

Asked directly on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme whether his Tinubu endorsement was rooted in a political or personal deal, Adeleke was emphatic in his denial. “No, I never reached agreement with Mr President,” he said. “My support is just based on — he’s a Yoruba man, and he’s from the South-West, and I believe that all the federal roads that he has started, I want to encourage him not to forget the South-West too.”

The governor added: “I feel like, well, since a Yoruba man has won the first term, maybe we should give him another chance to develop his reforms.”

But in the very same interview, when asked whether he would support Tinubu “all out” in 2027, Adeleke replied without hesitation: “Big time, I will.” He also said he was prepared to work alongside APC figures — including his defeated opponent Oyebamiji and former governor Gboyega Oyetola — in support of Tinubu’s re-election. “Whenever Mr President, when it’s time for him to campaign and all that, whatever how he wants me to come in, I will do it,” he said.

Adeleke’s Camp: ‘There Is No Agreement’

The Imole Campaign Council, Adeleke’s political organisation, also moved quickly to contain the damage from Keyamo’s remark. Spokesperson Pelumi Olajengbesi flatly rejected any suggestion of a deal, writing on X: “Do not undermine the resilience of Osun people. There is no agreement.”

Olajengbesi insisted the governor’s support for Tinubu was driven entirely by the president’s performance and economic reforms. “Our support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is based on his performance and reforms that have strengthened states economically,” he said, adding: “Osun people voted Adeleke. President Tinubu simply ensured democratic rules were respected,” according to Channels Television.

So — Was There a Deal?

The political and circumstantial evidence points in competing directions. On one hand, Adeleke and Tinubu have maintained a conspicuously warm relationship despite belonging to rival parties. Adeleke has made multiple high-profile visits to the president, and Tinubu personally called to congratulate him on Sunday. The Osun election was notably peaceful by the standards of Nigerian governorship contests — a contrast many observers attribute to a deliberate decision at the federal level not to deploy the machinery of incumbency against Adeleke.

On the other hand, there is no documentary evidence of a formal agreement, and both Adeleke and his camp have denied one categorically. Adeleke’s stated rationale — regional solidarity with a Yoruba president and support for federal road infrastructure in the South-West — is politically coherent even in the absence of a private deal.

What is undeniable is that Keyamo’s three words — casual, confident and unretracted — have given the story legs it would not otherwise have had. Whether “agreement is agreement” was a deliberate signal, a clumsy slip, or simply a colourful expression of satisfaction at a political ally keeping his word, it has transformed what might have been a routine post-election endorsement into one of the defining political talking points of the 2026 election season — and a preview of the complex coalition-building that will shape the race to 2027, according to Channels Television.