Former Minister of Sports and Youths Development, Solomon Dalung, has said the political atmosphere in Osun State compelled President Bola Tinubu to remain neutral during the just-concluded governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on Sunday morning declared incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party winner of the poll.
Adeleke, who was seeking re-election for a second term, won in nineteen local government areas, while his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won eleven.
Reacting to the outcome in a post on his verified Facebook page on Sunday, Dalung said Tinubu’s neutrality was not a personal decision but one shaped by the prevailing political circumstances in the state.
The former minister under the late President Muhammadu Buhari noted that although the election has come to an end, its political implications are far from over.
He wrote, “When a President’s strongest political base is expected to be his region, every subsequent election in that region becomes more than just another state contest. It becomes a test of how much of that political capital is still intact.
“Osun was a particularly important test, forget what anyone will tell you that the President was neutral, the political atmosphere forced him to.
“The All Progressives Congress, APC, did not approach this election casually. The political heavyweights descended on the state with enormous confidence and considerable mobilisation.”
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