Adeleke secured 511,067 votes to APC’s Bola Oyebamiji’s 444,811, winning 19 of Osun’s 30 local governments.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party winner of Saturday’s Osun State governorship election, securing a second term in office.
Professor Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole, Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti and INEC’s State Returning Officer, declared the result on Sunday morning after overnight collation of results from across the state’s 30 local government areas.
“That, Ademola Adeleke of Accord Party, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared winner and is returned elected, duly signed by me,” Ogunwole declared.
Full result breakdown
Adeleke polled 511,067 votes to defeat his closest rival, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 444,815 votes, a winning margin of 66,252 votes. Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) finished a distant third with 17,180 votes.
According to INEC, Adeleke’s total represents 50.8 per cent of the 1,005,800 votes cast across the state’s 3,763 polling units, with Oyebamiji taking 44.2 per cent and the remaining 13 candidates sharing about 5 per cent. A total of 20,721 ballots, roughly 2.06 per cent of votes cast, were rejected.
Adeleke won 19 of Osun’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji’s APC took the remaining 11. The governor recorded his widest margins in Ede North, polling 35,427 votes against Oyebamiji’s 10,283, and Ede South, where he scored 26,188 votes against 6,219.
He also won decisively in Osogbo, the state capital and a traditional APC stronghold, with 36,480 votes to Oyebamiji’s 30,474. The ADC’s strongest showing came in Ejigbo, where it polled 5,053 votes, well above its tally elsewhere in the state.
An election held under tension
The election took place under a cloud of apprehension, given the violence and attacks reported in the days preceding the vote, including the disruption of ADC candidate Najeem Salaam’s own polling unit in Ejigbo, where thugs reportedly destroyed INEC materials and forced his evacuation by security operatives.
Despite the concerns, the election recorded a decent voter turnout, with large crowds overwhelming electoral officials at some polling units.
Although reports of election-related violence were minimal on Saturday itself, incidents of journalist harassment and disruptions to voting were recorded in parts of the state.
Voting started early in most areas, but glitches with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices delayed the conclusion of voting at several polling units. The election was also marred by documented instances of vote-buying and alleged voter intimidation in parts of the state.
What happens next
Adeleke is expected to receive his Certificate of Return from INEC and be sworn in for his second term in the coming weeks. Given Osun’s history of closely contested governorship results proceeding to election petition tribunals, both major parties are likely to prepare for potential legal challenges to Sunday’s declaration.
The election was held across all 3,763 polling units in Osun’s 30 local government areas, with 2,339,233 registered voters eligible to participate.
