By Isa Isawade

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for the successful conduct of the Saturday election and reaffirmed his endorsement of the President for a second term in the 2027.

Adeleke stated this during a press conference on Sunday, shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared him the winner of the August 15 governorship election.

The governor commended Tinubu for what he described as his support for 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.

The governor had previously endorsed Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election, despite being a member of the Peoples Democratic Party before defecting to the Accord Party ahead of the Osun governorship election.

Adeleke was declared the winner of the election at about 7:24 am on Sunday by the State Returning Officer, Prof. Joshua Ogunwole, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti.

The Accord Party candidate polled 511,067 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress, who scored 444,815 votes.

Adeleke won 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji won 11. The African Democratic Congress candidate, Najeem Salaam, came third with 17,180 votes.

The result secured Adeleke a second term after he was elected governor in 2022 on the platform of the PDP before moving to the Accord Party for the 2026 election.

Earlier on Sunday, Adeleke thanked Tinubu for calling to congratulate him on his victory and said he expected Oyebamiji to also call and congratulate him.

“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.”