Video: Tinubu Congratulating Adeleke Proves Democracy Growing in Nigeria — Sanwo-Olu

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said President Bola Tinubu’s decision to congratulate Governor Ademola Adeleke after the APC’s defeat in the August 15 Osun governorship election is proof that Nigeria’s democracy is growing.

Sanwo-Olu stated this on Thursday at the seventh annual lecture of Freedom Online.

The governor noted that the APC candidate lost the August 15 governorship election to the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke, who contested on the platform of another political party.

He said despite the defeat, Tinubu did not attempt to contest the outcome, but congratulated Adeleke the following day and urged him to unite the state.

Sanwo-Olu said, “About 19-20 days ago, on the 15th of August, the people of Osun State elected a governor. The candidate of my party, the President’s party, lost.

“The incumbent, Governor Ademola Adeleke, of a different party, won by more than 60,000 votes. The President did not sulk and he did not equivocate. He picked up the telephone the following day, congratulated the winner, urged him to unite the state, and thanked INEC and the security agencies for a peaceful and transparent election.”

According to the Lagos governor, Adeleke had also publicly acknowledged Tinubu’s role in ensuring what he described as a level playing field during the election.

Sanwo-Olu said the development was significant because it demonstrated that a ruling party could lose an election in the South-West without the Federal Government using its influence to overturn the outcome.

“Think about what that means. There was a time in this country when ‘federal might’ was a phrase that a ruling party used without irony,” he said.

“Under this President, the ruling party can lose a state, in the South-West, in an election year, and the sky does not fall. That is what a maturing democracy looks like.”

The governor described Tinubu as a lifelong democrat, saying the President was committed to leaving behind a stronger democratic system than the one he inherited.

“This President is a lifelong democrat, and he means to leave behind a stronger democracy than he inherited, not only for Nigerians but as an example to a continent that badly needs one,” Sanwo-Olu stated.

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