ADC links Tinubu’s ‘all is fair in politics’ remark to Fadahunsi’s controversial Osun comments
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has linked President Bola Tinubu’s recent political rhetoric to the controversial comments attributed to Senator Francis Fadahunsi ahead of Saturday’s Osun State governorship election.
Speaking on Arise News on Wednesday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said he believed Fadahunsi may have taken the President’s assertion that “all is fair in politics” as a licence for political actors to do whatever was necessary to win. “I don’t want to blame Senator Fadahunsi. I blame President Bola Tinubu. He got his imprimatur for what he said from President Bola Tinubu,” Abdullahi stated.
Fadahunsi was recently questioned by the Osun State Police Command over remarks made at an APC campaign rally in Ilesa that were interpreted as encouraging supporters to attack members of the Accord Party. Abdullahi argued that statements by political leaders shape how followers interpret the limits of acceptable conduct. When a president says “all is fair in politics,” he said, subordinates can read it as authorisation for any behaviour required to deliver victory.
Tinubu made the remark on 28 July while hosting the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria at the Presidential Villa during a discussion of the 2027 contest. Abdullahi expressed optimism that the ADC could win Saturday’s Osun election if the process is transparent. The party’s candidate, Najeem Salaam, is contesting against incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke and the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Oyebamiji. “If this is going to be a free and fair election, ADC will win this election,” he said.
He also criticised the heavy presence of armed security personnel in the state, describing it as militarisation of the political space and raising concerns about its effect on the credibility of the poll.
The argument turns on the weight attached to a single presidential phrase. One side treats it as a general observation about political competition; the other treats it as a signal that loosens restraints on followers. Whether the phrase influenced Fadahunsi’s language remains a matter of interpretation. The structural issue is how senior rhetoric is received and applied by lower-level actors in a charged pre-election environment.
