Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki have congratulated Governor Ademola Adeleke on his re-election, describing the outcome as a taste of what is to come in 2027. In separate statements following Governor Adeleke’s victory, Atiku and the PDP faction also commended the people of Osun State for coming out en masse to exercise their franchise and ensure that their votes counted. Atiku, in a statement by his media office, said the outcome of the election reflected the democratic wishes of the people of Osun State. He particularly expressed satisfaction with the manner in which Osun voters came out and resisted what he described as “anti-democratic machinations” aimed at undermining the democratic process during the election. “The lesson from the election is that the voters in Osun State have set a good example of how we must come out in large numbers in the general elections next year. “Another important lesson from the Osun election is that it is a clear manifestation of how the collective resolve of the electorate to stand firm to protect their ballot is the best antidote to rigging, vote buying and other electoral malpractice and irregularities,” Atiku said. He added that despite what he described as an orchestrated plot to intimidate voters through the heavy presence of armed personnel, the outcome of the election demonstrated what he considered the unpopularity of the All Progressives Congress (APC) due to its policies. “Nigerians have roundly rejected the APC. The election in Osun State is just a telling indication that the APC will be defeated in the general election in January 2027. Indeed, it is a forerunner of the 2027 General Elections.” On his part, Ini Ememobong, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP faction, said Governor Adeleke’s victory “is a clear message from Nigerians in Osun State about what the 2027 elections will be.” He said the victory came “at a high cost of strong will, vigilance and resistance by the people of Osun State against the entire rigging machinery of the ruling APC,” which he alleged was determined to win the state “at all costs.” “That the APC wanted Osun, by fair or foul means, was not in doubt to anyone, which accounts for the unceasing intimidation, assault and arrests of opposition politicians, the ‘kill them’ directive by Senator Francis Fadahunsi and the performative invitation by the police, and his subsequent release to participate in the elections.” The PDP faction further alleged that “the manifest partiality of security agencies, especially the police, and even the shameful intervention by the EFCC freezing the accounts of the state; and the intentional delay (more than two hours) in uploading the results of the 470 polling units by INEC, are acts that are not just condemnable but are actions capable of derailing democracy.” Speaking on the 2027 elections, the PDP faction urged Nigerians not to rest on their oars as the general elections approach, stressing that voters must remain vigilant. It added that “Nigerians must vote, protect and defend their votes. They must not think that having failed in Osun, the APC and its accomplices in the critical national institutions will repent of their ill deeds; they will rather seek to learn from the failings in Osun, to perfect their dark art of subverting the wishes of the people.”
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