Oyebamiji Visits Tinubu Days After Losing Osun Governorship Election to Adeleke

The All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the recently concluded Osun State governorship election, Bola Oyebamiji, has visited President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, days after conceding defeat to the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke.

The meeting was disclosed on Friday by Olusegun Dada, Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Social Media, who shared a video of the encounter on X.

Dada captioned the video:

“President Bola Tinubu meets in audience Asiwaju Bola Oyebamiji, the governorship candidate of the APC in the recently concluded Osun State gubernatorial elections.”

The meeting comes just days after the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Adeleke the winner of the August 16 election.

Adeleke Defeats Oyebamiji

Adeleke, who contested the election on the platform of the Accord Party, secured 511,067 votes to defeat Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes.

The result gave Adeleke victory across 19 of Osun State’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji won 11.

The African Democratic Congress candidate, Najeem Salaam, finished third with 17,180 votes.

The State Returning Officer for the election, Professor Joshua Ogunwole, formally declared Adeleke the winner on Sunday, August 16.

The result marked Adeleke’s return to the Osun State Government House after a closely contested election that attracted significant political attention across the country.

Tinubu Had Congratulated Adeleke

Oyebamiji’s visit to Tinubu also comes against the backdrop of the President’s response to the election result. Following Adeleke’s victory, Tinubu congratulated the governor and described the outcome as a reflection of the will of the people.

The President also urged Adeleke to unite the people of Osun State and concentrate on the development of the state.

Adeleke subsequently thanked Tinubu for what he described as the President’s role in ensuring a free and fair election.

The governor also reaffirmed his support for Tinubu’s bid for another term in 2027.

Adeleke Was at the Villa a Day Earlier

Oyebamiji’s visit came just one day after Adeleke himself visited President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa. During Thursday’s meeting, August 20, Adeleke presented his Certificate of Return to the President.

Tinubu used the occasion to urge the governor to demonstrate what he described as “magnanimity in victory” and to promote peace, unity and stability across Osun State.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Adeleke said his visit was primarily to thank the President for allowing the electoral process to take place freely and fairly.

He also acknowledged Tinubu’s broader role in sustaining democracy in Nigeria. The back-to-back visits by the two leading contenders in the Osun election have therefore brought both sides of the contest to the Presidential Villa within days of the poll.

A Different Chapter After the Contest

The meetings come at a significant moment for Osun State. For several months, the election was characterised by intense political competition between the major parties and candidates.

With the votes now counted and the winner declared, attention is gradually shifting from the contest itself to what comes next.

For Adeleke, the immediate challenge is to translate his electoral victory into governance and fulfil the expectations of the electorate.

For Oyebamiji and the APC, the post-election period presents an opportunity to assess the campaign, examine the outcome and determine the party’s next political steps in the state.

His meeting with Tinubu is therefore the latest public development involving the APC candidate since the election. The meeting also follows Adeleke’s own appearance at the Villa, creating an unusual sequence in which both the winner and the defeated candidate have separately met with the President within a 24-hour period.

As political attention gradually moves beyond the ballot, the focus will now turn to how the new political realities in Osun shape relations between the state government, the opposition and the Federal Government.

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For now, the election is over. The political contest may have ended at the polling booths, but the conversations about governance, cooperation and the future direction of Osun State are only beginning.

ValidViewNetwork reports that Oyebamiji’s meeting with President Tinubu came days after the APC candidate lost the governorship election to Adeleke.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the President had earlier congratulated Adeleke and urged him to use his victory to promote unity, peace and development in Osun State.