…says: ‘He didn’t score highest valid votes’
Oluwole Oke, director-general of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship campaign committee in the Osun election, says the party will not hurriedly congratulate Ademola Adeleke, governor of Osun, on his re-election.
Oke said the APC still believes that the Accord candidate did not score the highest number of valid votes in the August 15 election.
Oke, who spoke on Monday during ‘Prime Time’, a programme on Arise Television, noted that the APC is still studying the outcome of the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Adeleke winner of the poll.
Joshua Ogunwole, the state’s returning officer for the poll, said Adeleke secured 511,067 votes to defeat his closest challenger.
Bola Oyebamiji of the APC placed second with a final vote tally of 444,815, while Najeem Salaam, the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), was a distant third with 17,180 votes.
Adeleke won in 19 local government areas while Oyebamiji was victorious in 11 LGAs.
President Bola Tinubu has since congratulated the governor, describing his re-election as a “fitting assurance” that democracy will continue to flourish under his administration.
Oke said while Tinubu can congratulate Adeleke as father of the nation, the Osun APC is not allowed that grace.
“Mr. President, His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, is the father of the nation. And as a democrat, based on the announcement of INEC, he issued a statement credited to him. He’s a father, he’s a leader, but we’re on the spot,” Oke said.
“We’re on the ground and politics is local. And like I’ve told you, what we are doing, even for future records, is to conduct a total review of the entire process and then form an opinion.
“We won’t be under any sort of pressure to easily reach out to congratulate Senator Ademola Adeleke because we believe he did not score the highest valid votes.”
He said Osun APC would come out with its official position on the election as soon as it concludes its investigation.
“We’re studying the records. We’re inspecting the records. And very soon, we would make our position known to the members of the public,” he said.
