Tinubu Called, Atiku Congratulated, Oyebamiji Stayed Silent: Osun's Morning After
The first tears on Sunday morning did not belong to a losing candidate. They belonged to Davido.
As news broke that INEC had declared his uncle, Governor Ademola Adeleke, winner of a second term, the Afrobeats star was visibly overcome, Legit.ng reported — a moment that travelled almost as fast online as the result itself. In Osogbo, the reaction was louder but no less emotional, with crowds outside the collation centre picking up the two-word chant that has followed Adeleke since 2022: "Imole! Imole!" — Yoruba for "the light."
Adeleke himself struck a calmer note with reporters. "It is a victory for democracy in Nigeria," he said, "a victory for the people of Osun State who have stood by me." Leadership reported him crediting the win to "dividends of democracy" delivered in agriculture, infrastructure and education over his first term.
A call from Abuja, and one still waited for
The most consequential phone call came from the presidency. Adeleke said President Tinubu rang him personally: "Mr President has called me and congratulated me. Thank you, Mr President, for making sure democracy lives on because we fought for it." Coming from the head of the party Oyebamiji ran for, the gesture read as Abuja moving quickly to close the book on the contest.
One call had not come by the time Adeleke spoke to reporters. "This is no victor, no vanquished," he said of Oyebamiji. "I am expecting him, even as a civilised person, to call and congratulate me," The Sun reported. Neither Oyebamiji nor the APC had issued a public statement on the result as of Sunday's coverage — a silence that, in Osun's charged political climate, is being read almost as closely as a concession would be.
"This is no victor, no vanquished. I am expecting Oyebamiji, even as a civilised person, to call and congratulate me." — Governor Ademola Adeleke, Sunday, August 16.
The strangest congratulations of the day
Not every well-wisher was on Adeleke's side of the ballot. Atiku Abubakar — who had flown into Osogbo days earlier to headline the ADC's campaign finale for Najeem Salaam — congratulated Adeleke on his re-election once the result was declared. So did NNPP's Rabiu Kwankwaso and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, among others — a spread of well-wishers crossing party lines wide enough to suggest most of the political class had already accepted the number Ogunwole read out, whatever their own candidate's fortunes.
For Atiku, the message doubled as an implicit concession of its own. The man he had personally vouched for in Osogbo finished a distant third, and there was little left to do but offer the winner a gracious line.
What it means heading into 2027
Adeleke's win keeps Osun outside APC hands for another term and hands Accord — a small platform Adeleke adopted only for this cycle — a governor's office to build on. That matters beyond Osun's borders: this was the last off-cycle governorship contest before Nigeria's 2027 general election, and every national figure who called, congratulated or stayed quiet on Sunday was, in some sense, already positioning for it.
Tinubu's quick call suggests the presidency wants Oyebamiji's loss filed away fast rather than relitigated. Atiku's graciousness toward a governor who is neither PDP nor his own ADC suggests an opposition figure keeping doors open rather than picking permanent enemies. Oyebamiji's silence, for now, leaves the one reaction that would matter most to Osun's next few weeks still unwritten.
Adeleke got his phone call from the president. Whether he gets one from Oyebamiji is, as of Sunday, still an open question — and probably not the last one Osun's result will raise before 2027.
