The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the recently concluded Osun State election, Bola Oyebamiji, has met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Politics Nigeria understands that the meeting, which took place on Friday, came days after Oyebamiji lost the governorship election to the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke, who contested on the platform of the Accord Party.
Tinubu’s Special Assistant on Social Media, Olusegun Dada, confirmed the meeting in a post on X, accompanied by a video showing the APC candidate with the President.
Dada wrote: “President Bola Tinubu meets in audience Asiwaju Bola Oyebamiji, the governorship candidate of the APC in the recently concluded Osun State gubernatorial elections.”
Oyebamiji’s visit also came less than 24 hours after Adeleke visited the President at the Villa and presented his Certificate of Return following his victory at the poll.
Adeleke defeated Oyebamiji with 511,067 votes against the APC candidate’s 444,815 votes. The Accord candidate won in 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji secured victory in 11.
During Adeleke’s visit, Tinubu urged the governor not to stigmatise or humiliate his political opponents, saying the people of Osun had freely chosen him to continue in office.
“Don’t stigmatise any of your opponents,” Tinubu told Adeleke.
The president also said political actors should embrace the outcome of a free and fair election, arguing that anyone who could not celebrate a credible electoral process did not deserve the joy of democracy.
“Anybody, any democrat, anybody in the political environment who cannot celebrate the joy of a free and fair election does not deserve the laughter and the happiness of democracy.
“Don’t make a single individual a victim of your campaign. Don’t. Not for you alone; not for the sake of Osun alone, for the generations to come. It’s more important for you to build a network of unity, Tinubu added.
Meanwhile, speaking with journalists after his meeting with Tinubu, Oyebamiji appealed for calm among political actors and residents of Osun State, saying the APC was still reviewing the outcome of the election.
According to him, Tinubu advised him to approach the post-election period with a peaceful mindset and put the interests of the people above political differences.
“I met with the President, and what he said was that the most important thing is to run every election with a peaceful mind.
“It is important for us Nigerians to know that government is about the people, and because of that, it is important that we should be peaceful. I want to appeal to our people in Osun that they need to be peaceful,” Oyebamiji said.
The APC candidate, however, disclosed that the party had yet to reach a final position on the election, noting that its members were still examining the results and other relevant records.
He said the party would communicate its decision to the public after completing its review.
Oyebamiji also urged Governor Adeleke to caution his supporters against violence and ensure that political tensions arising from the election did not degenerate into attacks or confrontation.