After BN's victory in the Kimanis by-election, former premier Najib Abdul Razak bade farewell to Sabahans with a subtle comeback at Warisan's defeated candidate Karim Bujang.
Referencing Karim's reported swipe that he should have stayed home to be with his grandchildren, Najib in a Facebook post said he will return to Kuala Lumpur today to be with his family members.
"Ok. I will go back to KL today to see my children, my grandchildren... If you (Karim) want to follow, come along.
"I will treat you to nasi lemak. Nasi lemak with crispy anchovies, not smelly slimy anchovies," he said in reference to a viral post on a British woman, who later apologised, for describing the nasi lemak meal served on board her British Airways flight as a wickedly bad meal.
"We will bring the voice of Sabah to Parliament... Thank you to all voters in Kimanis. See you again," said Najib.
BN's Mohamad Alamin had polled 12,706 votes to the 10,677 votes garnered by Karim.
In the 2018 general election, BN's Anifah Aman narrowly won the seat by a 156-vote majority, polling 11,942 votes.
In that election, Karim received 11,786 votes, 1,109 votes more than yesterday's by-election.
In a separate post earlier today, Najib also took a more serious tone as he thanked BN's supporters in Kimanis.
He reminded them how BN had initially won the state in the last general elections but a series of defections eventually saw Shafie Apdal being sworn-in as chief minister to the Warisan-led government, along with PKR, DAP and Upko.
"They (defectors) did not give BN a chance.
"They did not give themselves a chance to be part of a credible opposition to raise the voice of Sabahans (and) they chose to be with Harapan," said Najib.
Najib further claimed that the defectors had forgotten about the loyal supporters of BN who to this day continue to sacrifice their time, energy and funds for the coalition.
"I am confident that we will be able to rebuild BN with their support.
"Thank you to all our leaders and members in Sabah who remain with BN," he said.
