Opeyemi Bamidele, senate leader, has urged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to leverage the outcome of the Osun governorship election to mobilise 10 million votes for President Bola Tinubu in the south-west in the 2027 presidential election.
In a statement on Monday following the re-election of Ademola Adeleke, Osun governor, Bamidele, who is also the chairman of the national assembly south-west caucus, said the outcome of the election demonstrated that power ultimately belongs to the electorate in a democracy.
Adeleke, candidate of the Accord Party, polled 511,067 votes to defeat Bola Oyebamiji of the APC, who secured 444,815 votes, while Najeem Salam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) came third with 17,180 votes.
The senate leader urged all candidates to accept the result and called on Adeleke to extend a hand of fellowship to other political parties in the interest of Osun state.
Bamidele said Adeleke’s re-election placed a responsibility on the governor to reunite residents across political divides.
“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,” he said.
“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 Adeleke to look beyond the political platform that sponsored his candidacy and engage other contestants and parties in building an inclusive administration.
Bamidele also appealed to Oyebamiji to congratulate Adeleke and share policy ideas that could help improve governance in the state.
The senate leader said he did not consider the APC’s defeat a loss, citing Adeleke’s previous association with the party and his support for Tinubu.
“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,” he said.
“Governor Adeleke’s re-election, therefore, is not just the victory for ACCORD, but also for us in the APC.”
Bamidele said the election provided lessons that the APC could use to strengthen its campaign strategy ahead of 2027.
According to the senate leader, the 51.57 percent voter turnout recorded in Osun offers an opportunity for the APC to increase participation across the south-west in 2027.
“With synergy in our ranks, the election outcome simply suggests that we can achieve at least 60 percent voter turnout in all South-West states in 2027,” he said.
“Second, with strategic collaboration with all political actors, the election outcome suggests that our task of mobilising 10 million votes for President Tinubu’s re-election in the South-West alone is already on the horizon if we effectively leverage the gains of the Osun poll.”
He said securing the votes should become a priority for the APC as the 2027 elections approach.
Bamidele also called for a review of the party’s campaign strategy and urged the APC to engage artisans, traders, farmers, entrepreneurs, youths, women, labour unions, civil society organisations, traditional rulers and other stakeholders.