Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has thanked President Bola Tinubu for the successful conduct of Saturday’s governorship election and reaffirmed his support for the President’s second-term bid in 2027.
Adeleke spoke at a press conference on Sunday, shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared him the winner of the August 15 election.
He praised Tinubu for supporting what he described as a free and fair election in the state.
“At this point, I must deeply appreciate Mr. President, His Excellency Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for his strong support for a free and fair election.
“Mr. President is a son of Osun State, and I hereby reaffirm my earlier endorsement of him for a second term in the 2027 presidential election,” Adeleke said.
Adeleke had earlier backed Tinubu for 2027 despite previously belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party before joining the Accord Party ahead of the election.
He was declared winner at about 7:24 am on Sunday by the State Returning Officer, Prof. Joshua Ogunwole, Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti.
The Accord candidate secured 511,067 votes, defeating APC’s Bola Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes.
Adeleke won 19 of the 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji won 11. ADC candidate Najeem Salaam came third with 17,180 votes.
The victory secured Adeleke a second term after he won the governorship in 2022 under the PDP before joining the Accord Party for the 2026 election.
Earlier on Sunday, Adeleke thanked Tinubu for calling to congratulate him and said he expected Oyebamiji to do the same.
“Yes. This is no victor, no vanquished. I want them to come over. I am expecting Oyebamiji to even, as a civilised person, to call me and congratulate me,” he said.
He added, “And of course, I want to seize this opportunity to thank Mr. President. Mr. President has called me and he has congratulated me. And I thank you, Mr. President, for making sure democracy lives on, because you fought for it.”
