Days after the APC’s defeat in the Osun governorship election, Senator Abdullahi Adamu said the internal crisis caused the loss.
Adamu, however, expressed confidence that losing Osun does not mean the ruling party will not win at the general election in 2023.
Ademola Adeleke of the PDP defeated Gboyega Oyetola of the APC in the keenly contested governorship election held on Saturday, July 16
Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has given reasons why the party lost the Saturday, July 16 governorship election in Osun state.
Adamu said the crisis within the APC led to the loss, and not that the party was not capable of winning.
Senator Abdullahi Adamu in Osun/Osun state governorship election/PDP defeated APC
Senator Abdullahi Adamu said the internal crisis caused APC’s defeat in the Osun governorship election.
The APC chairman made this known in an interview with BBC Hausa.
The candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ademola Adeleke won the election after polling a total of 403,371 votes beating the incumbent, Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC who got 375,027 votes.
Speaking on why Oyetola lost, Adamu said:
“We lost the race not because we are incapable but because of the crisis within. We had a massive gathering of supporters a few days before the election in Osogbo.
No one could ever anticipate that we would lose the election.
“He noted that it was a tradition of life to lose something that was really needed by someone, noting that the party agreed to the defeat in good faith and learnt from it.”
Osun’s defeat doesn’t mean we will lose in 2023, says Adamu
Despite the defeat in Osun, Senator Adamu was very hopeful that the party would however win in the forthcoming 2023 elections.
He said:
Osun defeat doesn’t in any way mean that we will lose at the general election. We only lost one state out of the 22 we have; you see, we are still strong.
“We will sit and check ourselves. We must ask ourselves what is right and wrong and what needs to be corrected.
Oyetola speaks, reveals next plan after losing Osun governorship election to PDP’s Adeleke.
Meanwhile, the governor of Osun state, Adegboyega Oyetola, has urged his supporters to be calm following the emergence of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ademola Adeleke as governor-elect.
Oyetola said he has taken cognisance of the results of the governorship election announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Oyetola, Ismail Omipidan, noted the party would be responding appropriately after studying the results and consulting with critical stakeholders of the party.