Osun 2026: Spare Babajide Kolade-Otitoju — by Fidelis Duker

I have read several unwarranted social media dragging of Babajide Kolade-otitoju following the August 15, 2026 Osun State governorship election, which highlights a toxic trend in Nigerian political discourse. As a trained journalist and media practitioner, this deliberate systematic misinterpretation of objective data analysis can only be partisan bias.

As a veteran journalist and the Director of News at TVC News, Kolade-Otitoju’s pre-election assessments on Journalists’ Hangout became the target of aggressive internet commentary. Nigerian cultural content

However, a factual, timeline-based review of his exact statements reveals that the online backlash is entirely unjustified.

He never predicted a winner, and his rigorous, multi-faceted analysis of the race was rooted strictly in political realpolitik.

The core grievance of the social media mob relies on a manufactured narrative that Kolade-Otitoju predicted a loss for Governor Ademola Adeleke or actively campaigned against him. Anyone who actually watched the pre-election episodes of TVC News can verify that Kolade-Otitoju explicitly stated he would not predict the final winner.Local news reporting

Instead of playing a guessing game, he did what any seasoned journalist and political analyst is trained to do, he broke down the complex, competing dynamics of the race ad he meticulously weighed how Governor Adeleke’s immense grassroots popularity and social capital would stack up against the All Progressives Congress’s heavy institutional mobilisation and the emergence of a strong third-party challenger.

On the issue of “Federal Might”, rather than declaring the APC’s efforts absolute, Kolade-Otitoju explored how the ruling party was flying in major stakeholders and committees such as Governor Hope Uzodinma to plot an aggressive strategy. He noted this simply as a tactical reality, not as a seal of victory.

I am one who closely watch political shows and I can conveniently say days before the election, Kolade-Otitoju accurately warned that Osun would likely see a massive surge in vote trading, explaining that because electronic accreditation (BVAS) had made traditional ballot snatching obsolete, politicians would shift their resources to financial inducement. To interpret these objective observations as a bias against Adeleke requires a total suspension of comprehension skills.

Even if Kolade-Otitoju had used his TVC platform to predict a specific winner, he would have been entirely within his rights as a professional journalist. Political pundits across democratic nations from the United States to the United Kingdom frequently predict winners based on fact based analysis.

So the unwarranted social media dragging of Kolade-Otitoju following the August 15, 2026 Osun State governorship election highlights a toxic trend in Nigerian political discourse and the systematic misinterpretation of objective data analysis as partisan bias.Nigerian cultural content

An analyst’s prediction is an opinion backed by his field data. It is not a declaration of intent, nor is it a weapon to suppress votes. Demanding that media personalities only share opinions that flatter a specific political fanbase is a dangerous form of digital censorship.

Furthermore, those attempting to discredit Kolade-Otitoju’s career conveniently ignore his formidable track record. Over decades of broadcast journalism, he has correctly predicted the outcomes of several highly contested elections across Nigeria, earning numerous awards for his deep understanding of regional voting blocs, internal party structures, and traditional rulers’ influence.

The ultimate proof of Kolade-Otitoju’s journalistic neutrality came immediately after the votes were counted. Following Adeleke’s historic victory, Kolade-Otitoju returned to the airwaves to deliver an unfiltered, masterclass breakdown of how the APC’s internal failures and systemic rot led to their defeat.

In a viral segment on TVC news, he went so far as to label former Governor Rauf Aregbesola the “biggest loser” of the election, mathematically demonstrating how Aregbesola’s preferred third-party candidate could not even secure 15 votes in his own local polling unit.Local news reporting

If Kolade-Otitoju were the partisan agent his critics claimed him to be, he would not have spent his post-election analysis exposing the myth of “Federal Might” and praising the digital transparency that secured Adeleke’s win.

The toxic social media dragging of Kolade-Otitoju is an unfortunate indictment of modern political discourse in Nigeria. When partisan echo chambers mistake aggressive reporting and objective risk analysis for bias, it threatens the freedom of the press.

Kolade-Otitoju did his job as a journalist and he laid out the facts, highlighted the structural challenges on both sides, and left the final decision to the voters of Osun State. He deserves respect for his unwavering commitment to the real politics of Nigerian governance. Nigerian cultural content

Duker is a filmmaker/media practitioner cum politician who writes from Calabar, the Cross River State capital