Adebayo Adelabu has resigned as Minister of Power, saying he will leave office on April 30, 2026 to focus on his governorship ambition in Oyo State. He dated the resignation letter April 22, 2026 and addressed it to President Bola Tinubu through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
In the letter, Adelabu said his decision was driven by a need to fully comply with the amended Electoral Act 2026, which bars political office holders from contesting elections. He said it was time to step aside and concentrate on the race he has tied to Oyo State, making the move one of the clearest signals yet that adelabu resigns power minister was no longer a matter of speculation.
The resignation also comes after a turbulent 48 hours in which Punch said he became the third minister to exit Tinubu’s Federal Executive Council. The Cable said Tunji Bolaji had hinted at the looming resignation earlier on Wednesday, while said Adelabu met Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday and received the president’s consent and blessing to pursue the governorship bid.
Adelabu’s letter tried to place his departure inside a record of unfinished work. He said it had been a rare honour to serve under Tinubu and to contribute to reforms in a sector that remains central to Nigeria’s industrial growth and economic transformation. He said peak power generation rose to more than 6,000 megawatts during his tenure, helped by the integration of the Zungeru hydropower plant and rehabilitation of thermal power plants.
He also pointed to tariff reforms and a N4 trillion debt restructuring programme that, he said, lifted market revenues from N1 trillion in 2023 to N2.3 trillion in 2025. When he assumed office in 2023, available generation capacity stood at between 3,500 and 4,500 megawatts, while installed capacity was over 13,000 megawatts, according to Punch.
But Adelabu’s own summary of progress stopped short of saying the power sector is fixed. He said stronger institutional coordination is still needed to deal with gas supply constraints, infrastructure vandalism and the full commercialisation of the electricity value chain, and he called for a central authority to harmonise policy direction and execution. That friction is the backdrop to his exit: a minister leaving after claiming gains, while the sector he oversaw still faces the same structural strains.
The resignation takes effect on April 30, but the political move is already underway. Adelabu has now put his ministerial role behind him and turned fully toward Oyo State, where the next phase of his career will be judged less by power-sector figures than by whether Tinubu’s blessing can translate into an electoral run.
