Tinubu’s Restraint Aided Adeleke’s Re-Election – Chris Imumolen

A former Accord Party presidential candidate, Prof Chris Imumolen, has faulted the claim that President Bola Tinubu played no role in Governor Ademola Adeleke’s victory in the August 15 Osun governorship election. He recently had his say via a press statement, and Nigerians have been reacting.

Describing the notion as ungrateful and pretentious, Imumolen stated that reducing Tinubu’s role to whether he campaigned for Adeleke or provided financial support is an attempt to overlook the President’s democratic restraint before and during the election.

He added that the argument fails to recognise that political support can also take the form of deliberately refusing to deploy state power against an opponent.

His words, “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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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