The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, on Sunday disclosed that he was unaware a winner has emerged in the aftermath of Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State.
Adamu’s statement is coming in the wake of the party’s candidate, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola’s loss to the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, Ademola Adeleke.
Oyetola had polled 375,027 votes and won in 13 local government areas of the state to come second behind Adeleke in the election.
When asked to make comment after the election, the governor said the leadership of the APC in the state will respond to the result of Saturday’s governorship poll after studying it.
He also called on his supporters to remain calm, and go about their respective businesses without fomenting trouble or resulting to violence.
His loss in Saturday’s poll has, however, come to the APC national chair as a surprise.
Adamu, who appeared on Arise TV programme on Sunday, denied having knowledge of the winner of the Osun governorship election.
He told the presenter, “With due respect, my dear brother, I am just really hearing this from you. I have not formally heard the announcement from INEC, which is the independent commission responsible for election in Nigeria.
“I have not heard from them yet. Once I hear formally from INEC, I can be in a position to answer this particular question.”
When reminded that the results and the breakdown of the ballots from the 30 local government areas were all over the pages of major newspapers across the country, Adamu remained adamant.
“Between me and you, I have not formally heard from INEC and I have not read the papers you are talking about. I do read some papers on my table before I have my breakfast but I haven’t done that today yet,” he said.
When prodded further on whether the party will accept defeat if he finally gets to see the result and breakdown of voting pattern, the APC chair stuck to his gun.
He said, “I don’t like pre-empting my situation. You need to be patient. Since you got the result, wait for me too to receive it. You can get back to me and I will be willing to talk about it.
“Until I hear from INEC formally or my people in the control room confirm that it is the result, of course, I will abide by it. But hearing the result first from you is unacceptable. You are not INEC.”
According to him, he has yet to even speak with the APC candidate after the poll that gave the opposition PDP the victory.
“I haven’t spoken to him yet,” he said.