President Bola Tinubu on Thursday received Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke at the Presidential Villa and urged him to use his re-election victory to foster reconciliation and unity rather than treat political opponents as enemies.
Adeleke arrived at the State House at about 5:20 p.m. for a closed-door meeting, the first known engagement between the two leaders at the Villa since the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Adeleke winner of the August 15 governorship poll.
Tinubu told the governor that electoral success did not amount to conquest. “You did not conquer anybody. You won the election. That is the essence of democracy,” the president said.
He stressed that Adeleke now held a mandate from the people and should make reconciliation the foundation of his administration. “All for the reconciliation, expand your coast. That is the only way you can give thanks to our people. Not the way you sang it or celebrated it. It’s the way you act it,” Tinubu said.
The president reminded Adeleke that his position was ultimately the will of God and the electorate. “Where you are today, God put you there. Not the smartness of any of these people. It’s just their support, not their smartness. It is the wish of God that prevailed and the wish of the people for you,” he added.
Tinubu cautioned against stigmatising opponents or making any individual a victim of the campaign. “You saw fear. You screamed. Promote democracy. Promote stability. Promote rule of law. Don’t stigmatise any of your opponent,” he said. “Don’t make a single individual a victim of your campaign. Don’t. Not for you alone. Not for the sake of us all alone. For the generations to come.”
Adeleke, who ran on the Accord Party platform, secured 511,067 votes against 444,815 for the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, winning 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas. He had previously won the governorship in 2022 under the Peoples Democratic Party and received the Certificate of Return from INEC on Wednesday.
The president also used the meeting to defend his administration’s economic reforms, describing calls for a return to fuel subsidy as evidence of a lack of understanding of governance. He noted that 27 states had struggled to pay salaries before the reforms and urged focus on infrastructure, healthcare and education.
Tinubu expressed satisfaction with the discussion, describing it as an opportunity to reinforce democratic values.
