The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Surajudeen Basiru, on Sunday paid a courtesy visit to Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke in Osogbo.
A video of the meeting, posted on X by Ayekooto, showed Basiru outlining three key reasons for the visit.
He 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.
Basiru admitted that he had delayed the reciprocal visit until after the recent governorship election because of politics, given that 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, the APC National Secretary congratulated Adeleke on his re-election victory, which the governor contested on the platform of the Accord Party to defeat APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji.
“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 Tinubu, the democrat, I must also at every point in time recognise that in a democratic contest, one must win, and the struggle continues,” the ruling party scribe said.
Thirdly, Basiru thanked Adeleke for endorsing President Bola Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election.
He said he “read both news media and social media; some people expected you (Adeleke), having won the election, would renege on earlier promise to endorse Tinubu,” but the governor had “stood firm.”
