Osun Election: Tinubu Phones Governor Adeleke
President Bola Tinubu has congratulated Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, following his victory in the Osun State governorship election.
A chieftain of the Accord Party, Pelumi Olajengbesi, disclosed this while speaking with journalists at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) collation centre in Osogbo after Adeleke was declared the winner of the poll.
According to Olajengbesi, Tinubu personally called Adeleke on Saturday night to congratulate him after results from across the state showed the incumbent governor ahead of his closest challenger, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Oyebamiji.
“The President congratulated Governor Adeleke last night,” Olajengbesi said.
He also commended Tinubu for what he described as his decision not to interfere with the electoral process, saying the President had kept his promise to allow the people of Osun State to freely choose their governor.
Olajengbesi said Tinubu deserved commendation for allowing the election to proceed without presidential interference despite the political tension surrounding the exercise.
However, he faulted some aspects of the electoral process, saying the election could be described as credible based on the outcome but could not be considered entirely free and fair because of violent incidents recorded in some parts of the state before and during voting.
His comments came shortly after INEC formally declared Adeleke the winner of the fiercely contested election held across the state’s 30 local government areas.
Adeleke, the Accord Party candidate, secured 511,067 votes to defeat Oyebamiji of the APC, who scored 444,815 votes.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, finished behind the two leading contenders to emerge as the second runner-up.
A total of 15 political parties contested the election, while INEC said 1,906,390 Permanent Voter Cards had been collected in the state.
The election followed days of heightened political tension and controversy, particularly over the deployment of security personnel across Osun State.
On Saturday, singer and Adeleke’s nephew, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, criticised Tinubu over developments surrounding the election.
Davido accused the President of failing to protect democracy amid reports concerning the deployment of police and military personnel during the poll.
In a post on X directed at Tinubu, the singer wrote, “U no try @officialABAT.”
He had earlier reacted to reports about the security deployment, alleging that the move was aimed at undermining the electoral process.
“Because we are winning. They want to withdraw the police and military! MR PRESIDENT TINUBU ! UR KILLING DEMOCRACY,” Davido wrote.
Earlier on Saturday, he also called on INEC officials to use the front camera of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) whenever the main camera develops a fault, following reports of technical difficulties at some polling units.
“If your BVAS camera is not working, please tell the officials to use front camera. It is very active and fast!,” he said.
The BVAS is used by INEC for voter accreditation through biometric and facial verification, making the proper functioning of the devices important to the voting process.
Davido had also previously called on local and international election observers to pay close attention to the conduct of the Osun governorship election.
Despite the controversies surrounding the election, INEC completed the collation of results from the 30 local government areas and declared Adeleke the winner in the early hours of Sunday.
