President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday received the Osun State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gboyega Oyetola, in the July 16 election in Osun State.
The meeting comes exactly 10 days to the commencement of the gubernatorial poll in the southwestern state where Oyetola is seeking re-election for another four years.
President Buhari did the ceremonial presentation of the flag to the APC governorship candidate in the upcoming elections in Osun State, giving assurances that the Party is committed to furthering the development journey of the state.
He equally commended Oyetola’s performance for serving the people tirelessly in his first term in office, adding that he has confidence in the Party winning the election, fairly and squarely in the coming week.
“I wish you the best of luck, Buhari was quoted in a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, as saying.
In response to the invitation to participate in the Grand Finale of the rallies, next week, he said, “I hope I will make myself available to boost your morale.”
Accompanying the governor to see Buhari at the State House is a delegation led by the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.l
Adamu is being represented by the party’s Deputy National Chairman, Senator Abubakar Kyari.
Among the delegation include the APC National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Chairman of the Osun Election Council and Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Co-chairman and Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje as well as his Niger State counterpart, Abubakar Sani Bello.
Addressing State House reporters after the meeting, Oyetola said contrary to some claims, there is no crisis in the APC in Osun State.
He however admitted that reconciliation efforts were ongoing to address some issues raised by aggrieved party members.
The governor explained that the ruling APC has received defectors from other political parties, expressing confidence in winning the election.
“There is no serious division in APC in Osun State. We have issues which are ordinarily likely to happen in any party and we have done a lot of reconciliation,” he said.
“As I speak, a number of them have actually come back to join us for this coming elections. I believe we are together with them. More than 10,000 defectors came from other parties and we still have a lot of them that are supporting us.”
In response to his administration’s performance in Osun State, Governor Oyetola said he has done very well in the last four years.
He recalled that when he assumed office in 2018, the state was grappling with the pension and salary backlog, a situation he rigorously fixed.
Oyetola also stated that he has turned out the economic fortunes of the state to the overall good of Osun residents.
“I believe by any standard, I have done very well to deserve a second term. I have repositioned the economy of the state.
“I have been paying full salary and pension which was one of the very terrible things that happened to us in 2018. Both workers are getting their salaries before the end of the month and the pensioners are getting their pensions too.”
