How to COUNT() DISTINCT records from a related table via CodeIgniter's query builder

Is this possible to get this output using CodeIgniter in a single MySQL query?

oid |  count(waiters) as total_waiters
----+-------------------------------
1   |      1 <-- john will be count as 1 even if assigned to 2 room
2   |      1
3   |      2 <-- count is 2 because different waiters are assigned with different room
4   |      0

Order table

oid |  name 
----+-------
1   |   aa   
2   |   bb   
3   |   cc   
4   |   dd     

Room table

Rid |  oid  |  waiter_assigned
----+-------+-----------------
1   |   1   |     john
2   |   1   |     john
3   |   2   |     john
4   |   3   |     mike
5   |   3   |     dude

I tried using union

$this->db->select('o.oid, "" AS tot_book_thera');
$this->db->from('order o');
$query1 = $this->db->get_compiled_select();

$this->db->select('r.oid, count(r.waiter_assigned) AS total_waiters');
$this->db->from('room r');
$this->db->group_by('r.waiter_assigned');
$query2 = $this->db->get_compiled_select();

But I get this...

oid |  count(waiters) as total_waiters
----+-------------------------------
1   |      1 
2   |      1
3   |      2
1   |      '' <-- not sure how to combine it with the 1st or how to exclude this or remove this.

You had the right idea. But as others have stated, GROUP BY is your best friend here. Also, make use of DISTINCT to get rid of counting a waiter twice for the same order. This is how your code should look like

// An inner select query whose purpose is to count all waiter per room
// The key here is to group them by `oid` since we are interested in the order
// Also, in the count(), use DISTINCT to avoid counting duplicates
$this->db->select('room.oid, count(DISTINCT room.waiter_assigned) AS total_waiters');
$this->db->from('room');
$this->db->group_by('room.oid');
$query1 = $this->db->get_compiled_select();

// If you run $this->db->query($query1)->result(); you should see
oid |  total_waiters
----+-------------------------------
1   |      1
2   |      1
3   |      2

// This is how you would use this table query in a join.
// LEFT JOIN also considers those rooms without waiters
// IFNULL() ensures that you get a 0 instead of null for rooms that have no waiters
$this->db->select('order.oid, order.name, IFNULL(joinTable.total_waiters, 0) AS total_waiters');
$this->db->from('order');
$this->db->join('('.$query1.') joinTable', 'joinTable.oid = order.oid', 'left');
$this->db->get()->result();

// you should see
oid |  name     |  total_waiters
----+-----------+-------------------------
1   |  aa       |      1
2   |  bb       |      1
3   |  cc       |      2
4   |  dd       |      0

Here is the raw SQL statement

SELECT order.oid, order.name, IFNULL(joinTable.total_waiters, 0) AS total_waiters
FROM order
LEFT JOIN (
    SELECT room.oid, count(DISTINCT room.waiter_assigned) AS total_waiters  
    FROM room
    GROUP BY room.oid
) joinTable ON joinTable.oid = order.oid