The Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele.

The Leader of the Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly South-West Caucus, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, has urged the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the Osun State election, Bola Oyebamiji, to congratulate Governor Ademola Adeleke on his re-election and offer constructive policy ideas to support his administration.

Bamidele made the call in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Monday while reviewing the outcome of Saturday’s governorship election.

Adeleke was declared winner of the poll after securing 511,067 votes, while Oyebamiji polled 444,815 votes and the African Democratic Congress candidate, Najeem Salam, obtained 17,180 votes.

The Senate Leader said the outcome demonstrated the supremacy of the electorate in a democracy and urged all candidates to accept the decision of the people.

Bamidele also stressed that Adeleke’s victory placed a responsibility on him to unite the state and ensure that governance was not driven by partisan considerations.

He said, “In Osun, the decision of the majority does not only confirm the re-election of Governor Adeleke. It equally places the burden of victory on the elected candidate. This burden requires him to come up with clearly defined post-election measures that will effectively first reunite the state’s indigenes and residents across all the political divides.”

He urged the governor to extend a hand of fellowship to his opponents and other political parties in the interest of the state.

“To drive a truly inclusive governance, Governor Adeleke must look beyond the political platform that nominated him for the contest and extend his hand of fellowship to other candidates and political parties with a view to building a resilient state that functions in the interests of all people regardless of their leanings,” he said.

Bamidele specifically appealed to Oyebamiji to reach out to Adeleke, congratulate him and share ideas that could improve governance in the state.

“On this premise, I strongly encourage the candidate of our great party, Mr Bola Oyebamiji, to contact Governor Adeleke; congratulate him on his re-election and constructively share with him innovative policy ideas that can help him serve the interests of our people much better,” he stated.

Bamidele argued that the APC should not regard the outcome as an outright loss, noting Adeleke’s previous association with the party and his alleged support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.

“For me, the APC did not lose the election given the background that Governor Adeleke was coming from as a member of the APC before he defected to the Peoples Democratic Party. Besides, he has always been committed to the re-election of President Bola Tinubu; Governor Adeleke’s re-election, therefore, is not just a victory for ACCORD, but also for us in the APC.”

Bamidele also congratulated the Independent National Electoral Commission on the conduct of the election and said the APC and its candidate remained stakeholders in the development of Osun State despite losing the poll.