By Idowu Gabriel

Factional National Chairman of the Accord Party, Prof. Chris Imumolen, says President Bola Tinubu’s conduct, restraint, and democratic disposition contributed significantly to Governor Ademola Adeleke’s victory in the Osun governorship election.

Imumolen stated this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja while reacting to comments made by Pelumi Olajengbesi, spokesperson for Governor Adeleke’s campaign.

Olajengbesi had stated in an interview published by a national newspaper that President Tinubu offered no support whatsoever to Adeleke’s re-election, attributing the victory solely to the voters of Osun and Adeleke’s record in office.

Responding to the claim, Imumolen said the campaign spokesperson’s assertion deliberately reduced President Tinubu’s role to whether he openly campaigned or deployed federal power for Adeleke.

“Support in politics is not limited to standing on a campaign platform or openly mobilising votes for a candidate,” Imumolen said. “Sometimes, leadership is demonstrated by what a leader deliberately refuses to do.”

Imumolen said that President Tinubu demonstrated an extraordinary level of democratic restraint in Osun, by remaining neutral even when the candidate of his own party was contesting the election.

 

“He did not turn the election into a personal battle. He did not deploy the power of his office to intimidate the opposition. Instead, he allowed the people of Osun to make their choice.

 

“That, in itself, is a significant contribution to the credibility of the electoral process,” he said.

 

Imumolen further argued that President Tinubu’s conduct created the political space within which several individuals and groups who might otherwise have remained neutral or supported the APC candidate were able to make independent decisions.

 

He cited what he described as the President’s intervention in relation to the Osun State Government’s account, as well as his reported communication with Adeleke before the election result was announced.

This according to him is examples of a president who chose statesmanship and democratic maturity over partisan retaliation.

 

“Imagine what would have happened if the President had decided to use every available instrument at his disposal against Adeleke simply because the Governor was contesting against the President’s party.

 

“Instead, the President maintained his democratic disposition. He allowed traditional rulers, political actors, stakeholders and ordinary citizens to exercise their judgment without the atmosphere of federal intimidation that could have accompanied such a contest.

 

“Many people who eventually engaged in the political process did so because they saw a President who was prepared to respect the democratic choice of the people, even when that choice did not favour his party,” he said.

 

The former presidential candidate stressed that this should not be interpreted as claiming that President Tinubu campaigned for Adeleke or financed his campaign.

 

“Nobody is saying President Tinubu campaigned for Adeleke. That is not the argument.

“The point is that the president’s conduct, restraint and democratic disposition contributed to an environment in which Adeleke was able to contest and secure support without the Federal Government turning the election into a presidential power contest,” he said.

 

Imumolen said it was therefore misleading for anyone to reduce the President’s role to the question of whether he personally offered campaign materials, funds or political structures to Adeleke.

 

He added that President Tinubu’s decision to remain above the fray was particularly remarkable because the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, was the candidate of the President’s own political party.

 

“It is rare in contemporary African politics to see a sitting President demonstrate such restraint when his own party is involved in a fiercely contested state election.”

 

According to Imumolen, political leaders should learn to distinguish between partisan support and democratic statesmanship.

 

“The president may not have offered Adeleke the conventional campaign support being referred to by the campaign spokesperson, but his actions and restraint helped preserve the political space within which the election took place.

 

“To therefore come out after the election and declare that the President offered ‘no support’ is, in my view, an attempt to erase the value of his democratic conduct.

 

“Leadership is not only about what you do for your friends. Sometimes, it is about what you refuse to do to your opponents.”

 

Imumolen therefore advised Adeleke and his supporters to acknowledge the president’s democratic disposition rather than dismiss it.

 

“Adeleke may have won because of the votes he received from Osun people, but nobody should rewrite the circumstances under which those votes were allowed to freely determine the outcome.

 

“President Tinubu could have chosen confrontation. He chose restraint. He could have chosen partisan warfare. He chose democracy.

 

“That should be acknowledged, not denied.”

 

Imumolen concluded that political victory should not become an excuse for historical revisionism, stressing that gratitude and political honesty are essential qualities in leadership.

 

“Victory should make a leader magnanimous, not revisionist. The President respected the democratic process in Osun. That fact should not be diminished simply because Adeleke emerged victorious,” he said.