President Bola Tinubu on Thursday held a closed-door meeting with Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Adeleke arrived at the State House at about 5:20 p.m. and proceeded directly to the President’s office through the forecourt route for the meeting.
The meeting marked the first encounter between Tinubu and Adeleke since the governor secured re-election in the Osun State governorship election held on August 15.
Adeleke, who contested the election on the platform of the Accord Party, was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after polling 511,067 votes.
His closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), scored 444,815 votes, giving Adeleke a winning margin of 66,252 votes.
The National Secretary of the APC, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, was also seen leading some party leaders across the corridor, apparently heading towards the venue of the meeting.
The meeting came a day after INEC presented Adeleke with his certificate of return following his victory at the polls.
The certificate was presented to the governor by the Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Oluwatoyin Babalola, at the commission’s headquarters in Osogbo.
Adeleke received the certificate at about 1:30 p.m., shortly after his deputy, Prince Kola Adewusi, was presented with his own certificate of return.
Speaking at the ceremony, Babalola said the presentation was conducted in accordance with the law and formally affirmed the electoral mandate given to Adeleke and Adewusi by voters in the state.
The REC commended stakeholders, including security agencies, non-governmental organisations, the media and traditional rulers, for their roles in ensuring the successful conduct of the election.
Babalola also praised Osun voters for their participation, putting voter turnout at 43.2 per cent, and congratulated Adeleke on his victory while urging him to be magnanimous in victory.
