I lost my governorship election to Tinubu’s presidential ambition–Folarin

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the March 18 election in Oyo State, Teslim Folarin, says he lost the governorship election in the state because of the presidential ambition of President Bola Tinubu.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Governor Seyi Makinde as the winner of the election after he polled 563,756 votes to defeat Folarin, who garnered 256,685 votes in the poll.

Folarin, who spoke at a reception held in honour of a lawmaker representing the Ibarapa/Ido Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Remi Oseni, at Idigbaro, Ido local government area of the state on Saturday, said he lost the election as a result of an arrangement for President Bola Tinubu’s to win the state in the February 25 presidential election.

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He said: “If we are talking about the strongest party in the state today, it is APC. We won three senatorial seats and nine out of Federal constituency seats. Our people are already in the election tribunal and I can tell you that we would win two more Federal constituency seats. In the governorship election, we were thrown under the bus.

“In politics, if I am asked to choose between governorship and presidency, I will choose the latter. We have taken the presidency and our president, Tinubu, is doing well. Things are hard now, but I want Nigerians to bear and exercise patience because better days are coming soon.

“Let us stand with this government because it is our government. This is because if there’s a problem in the future regarding governance, they will say we need to call the Yoruba to fix it. Two things are constants in my life, which are Islam and politics. My own level has passed the fact that I have to become the governor before thanking God.”