National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Ajibola Basiru, on Sunday, paid a courtesy visit to Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, in Osogbo, the state capital.
A video of the meeting, posted on X by Ayekooto, showed Basiru outlining three key reasons for the visit.
The APC national secretary first expressed gratitude to the governor for attending the final rites of his late mother and visiting him during his period of bereavement earlier this year.
According to Basiru, he had delayed the reciprocal visit until after the recent governorship election because of politics, since he was actively campaigning against Adeleke.
He said, “You are the chief executive officer, and you still find time. And not only that you came to my personal house to extend your condolences to me, you also frontally attended. I cannot, because of politics, gloss over that act of charity.
“I don’t want people to misinterpret my gesture, and ordinarily I ought to have visited you during that period. But politics can be very toxic. People will say, ‘Ah, we are doing election, oh, we are in the field.’ And I was campaigning vigorously against you, sir.
“I campaigned vigorously against you at that election. Fortunately, God gives power.”
Secondly, Basiru congratulated Adeleke on his re-election victory, which the governor contested on the platform of the Accord Party to defeat the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji.
The ruling APC national secretary said, “Secondly, I must also come as a democrat to congratulate you on your recent victory. And I must say that I did not want you to win.
“I wanted Oyebamiji to win that election, my candidate that I worked for in that election. But as it were, Allah (God) alone can give power to whoever He wants.
“And of course, as a student of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the democrat, I must also at every point in time recognise that in a democratic contest, one must win, and the struggle continues.”
Basiru also thanked Adeleke for endorsing President Bola Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election.
According to him, he “read both news media and social media, some people expected you (Adeleke) that having won the election, would renege on earlier promise to endorse Tinubu,” adding that the governor had rather “stood firm.”
