Osun State Governor-Elect, Senator Ademola Adeleke, broke down in tears on Sunday while discussing his victory in the Osun governorship election and the support he got from his family for his growth and success.
Asked during Channels Television’s Politics Today if the experience ever make him remember his late elder brother, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, he said, “All the time. This victory, I dedicate it to him.”
He then broke down in tears and took some 20 seconds to pull himself together before sharing with an emotion-laden voice what Senator Isiaka represented for him and Osun State.
“His spirit still lives. He died for this cause. He wanted to be the governor to save our people from slavery. Look at what happened; he died because of this cause,” the governor-elect said of his brother who died in April 2017.
Until his death, Senator Isiaka Adeleke represented Osun West in the Senate and it was his demise that led to the emergence of the younger Adeleke as Senator and now governor-elect, fulfilling the dream his elder brother did not live to achieve. Isiaka Adeleke was Governor of Osun State from January 1992 and November 1993.
The interview, which is the first to be granted to a TV station by Senator Adeleke after he won the election, aired on Channels Television on Monday.
Adeleke had stunned the incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola, to win the election, reversing the outcome of a matchup between both men in 2018.
He secured 403,371 votes, 28,344 more than Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 375,027 votes, to emerge victorious.
Saturday’s election featured 15 contestants with the rematch of Oyetola and Adeleke drawing the most attention.
As the results from the local governments trickled in, it was clear that the election which was generally considered peaceful was a two-horse race between both men.
They split 96.76 per cent of the total valid votes cast in the election.
