…says it connected him to the voters

The National Youth Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dayo Israel, has said Governor Ademola Adeleke’s dancing was never a weakness but a major tool that helped him connect emotionally with voters and contributed to his victory in the Osun State governorship election.

Israel made this known while assessing the APC’s performance in the election, which was won by the incumbent governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In a post on his official X handle, @dayoisrael, titled “Osun has spoken: The bitter truth APC must hear before 2027,” the APC leader said the party underestimated Adeleke by dismissing him as the “Dancing Governor.”

According to him, Adeleke’s personality and connection with the people were wrongly viewed through the lens of elite political analysis.

“For years, some members of the political elite have reduced Governor Adeleke to his dancing. That assessment has always underestimated both the man and the nature of Osun politics,” he wrote.

Israel said Osun politics was deeply rooted in communities, traditions, faith and local culture, adding that Adeleke understood how to connect with voters beyond policy discussions and social media narratives.

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“Governor Adeleke’s dancing was never a weakness. It was a political language. It humanised him, made him accessible, and created emotional proximity with ordinary voters.

“His singing, dancing, accessibility and public worship built a bond that many technocratic analyses failed to capture,” he said.

He noted that politics was not only about policies, stressing that emotion, identity, presence and belonging also played significant roles in elections.

“Governor Adeleke stayed close to his grassroots while some opponents dismissed the very traits that strengthened his connection with the people,” Israel added.

The APC National Youth Leader urged his party to stop equating elite sophistication with electoral value, warning that a candidate could dominate elite conversations without winning the support of ordinary voters.

“Our party must therefore stop confusing sophistication with electoral value. A candidate may dominate elite discourse and still fail to move a ward. Another may be mocked in elite spaces and still command overwhelming loyalty on the ground.

“Elections are not won by approval ratings in Abuja. They are won by understanding people as they are,” he said.

Israel also identified internal divisions, weak grassroots mobilisation and inadequate strategic review as some of the factors that contributed to the APC’s defeat.

He called for reconciliation within the party and urged its leaders to learn from Adeleke’s grassroots strategy ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“President Tinubu gave us a democratic contest. Governor Adeleke understood his people. Davido understood his generation.

“The question is whether the APC understands its own lesson.

“This is not a call for blame. It is a call for renewal. Silence will not win 2027.

“Osun has spoken. The APC must now listen,” he concluded.