The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ajibola Basiru, visited he Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, on Sunday, with their discussions during the meeting touching on the campaign for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in the state for the 2027 presidential election.
Mr Basiru, a former Osun Central senator, was one of the vocal critics of Mr Adeleke during the campaigns for the 15 August governorship election, which the governor won.
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The opposition figure’s visit to Mr Adeleke, who contested the election on the platform of Accord Party, was their first publicly known encounter since the acrimonious rivalry between their parties in the lead-up to the election.
The meeting came two weeks after the electioneering marked by widespread violence and fierce exchanges ahead of the off-cycle poll.
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It also came a day after the APC governorship candidate Bola Oyebamiji’s concession of defeat in the election.
Mr Basiru said after the visit to Mr Adeleke at the Government House in Osogbo that the governor, who had repeatedly vowed to back Mr Tinubu for second term in office, said he was prepared to campaign for the president ahead of the January 16 presidential election.
He said the cooperation between the APC and Mr Adeleke’s Accord Party in the state could help the president secure about 1.5 million votes in Osun.
“I am also here to thank him for endorsing my leader and our presidential candidate and to also assure him that we are ready to work together to ensure that we deliver Osun massively for President Bola Tinubu,” Mr Basiru said.
“The governor, during our closed-door meeting, has also said that not only is he endorsing the president, but he will also be on the field to campaign vigorously for President Bola Tinubu for the January 16th presidential election.”
APC, Accord alliance targets 1.5m votes
Mr Basiru said the APC’s defeat in the governorship election did not amount to a poor performance, noting that the party secured 46 per cent of the votes.
He argued that combining the electoral strength of the APC and Accord could significantly increase the number of votes available to Mr Tinubu in the presidential election.
“You can even see from the last contest; my party performed creditably well in that election, scoring 46% of the votes. In between the Accord and the APC, we have close to one million votes, and with the presidential election, I think we should be looking, if we worked together, at about 1.5 million votes for President Bola Tinubu,” he said.
Mr Basiru urged APC members in Osun to close ranks and work with other political stakeholders to secure victory for Mr Tinubu.
“We must close ranks and work together, work together to ensure victory for President Bola Tinubu in the January 16th election,” he said.
The development comes two weeks after Mr Adeleke secured re-election in the 15 August governorship election, defeating his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the APC.
His victory came despite the APC’s efforts to reclaim the state, which President Tinubu had described as politically significant to his administration and the wider South-West.
Osun also has a sizable voting population, making it an important battleground in any statewide presidential contest. The strength of the state’s electorate, combined with the votes secured by Accord and APC in the recent governorship election, is central to the APC’s calculation that a political alliance could deliver a significant bloc of votes for Mr Tinubu.
Mr Basiru, however, said the outcome of the recent governorship election should not divide Osun residents along party lines, urging political actors to prioritise peace and development.
He also appealed to members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers to resolve their leadership disputes peacefully, saying the post-election violence in the state had subsided.
“On the post-election violence, I think the violence has subsided, but we must sustain the peace,” he said.
“Election has come and gone; all of us belong to this place; we must work to ensure that we have meaningful infrastructure and a good living for the people of Osun.”
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