Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has attributed the All Progressives Congress (APC) loss in the Osun State governorship election to interference by “Abuja politicians.”
Sule made the remarks on Tuesday while presenting Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) acknowledgement slips to APC gubernatorial and State House of Assembly candidates in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital.
The Osun governorship election held on August 15, 2026, saw incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party re-elected with 511,067 votes, defeating APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes. The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, finished a distant third with 17,180 votes. Adeleke won 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji secured 11.
According to Governor Sule, the APC would not have lost the election but for the actions of some politicians based in Abuja.
“APC lost partly because of the Abuja politicians, you know, because if not for some of these Abuja politicians, there was no way for APC to lose in Osun,” he stated.
The governor further noted that the outcome of the poll underscored the significant influence of an incumbent governor.
“What it means is that the power of a sitting governor is not something you can joke around with. That’s the message that was sent, actually, in Osun,” Sule said. He added that those celebrating the APC’s defeat do not fully understand the implications of the result.
“So, for people who are celebrating, they don’t even understand what the hell they are celebrating. What they are celebrating is that the power of a sitting governor in Osun is what has stopped them from winning,” he remarked.
Drawing a parallel to his own state, Sule warned that Nasarawa also has “one hell of a sitting governor.”
The Nasarawa governor also used the occasion to express support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stating that the President has performed well since assuming office. He cautioned against interpreting the Osun result as a rejection of the Tinubu administration.
Governor Sule’s comments come amid ongoing analysis of the factors that contributed to the APC’s inability to reclaim Osun State, including internal party dynamics, the advantage of incumbency, and the role of national-level political interventions.