Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party, has secured a second term in office after defeating the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, in Saturday’s governorship election.
Adeleke polled 511,067 votes against Oyebamiji’s 444,815 votes, giving the incumbent a winning margin of 66,252 votes.
The Returning Officer for the election, Professor Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, declared Adeleke the winner at the state collation centre in Osogbo at about 7:50am on Sunday.
The final declaration followed the collation and verification of results from all 30 local government areas of the state, which began at about 2:15am.
Declaring the result, Ogunwole said:
«“Having secured the huge number of lawful votes, the candidate of Accord, Ademola Nurudeen Jackson Adeleke, is hereby returned elected as the winner of August 15 governorship election in Osun State.”»
A total of 2,339,544 voters were registered for the election, while 1,010,684 were accredited.
Adeleke won in 19 LGAs, including Ife Central, Orolu, Boluwaduro, Ede South, Ife North, Ilesa West, Ifedayo, Osogbo, Oriade, Odo Otin, Ife East, Ifelodun, Iwo, Ede North, Ila, Ayedire, Ejigbo, Egbedore and Ayedaade.
Oyebamiji secured 11 LGAs, including Irepodun, Boripe, Obokun, Ilesa East, Atakunmosa West, Atakunmosa East, Isokan, Olaoluwa, Ife South and Olorunda.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, finished a distant third with 17,180 votes, failing to win any of the 30 LGAs, including his hometown, Ejigbo.
The declaration sparked celebrations among Adeleke’s supporters, who gathered around the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) collation centre and along the Gbongan-Ibadan Expressway to await the final announcement.
The victory secures another four-year term for Adeleke after a fiercely contested election shaped by political realignments, defections and allegations exchanged by the major political camps.
It also deepens Adeleke’s long-running electoral rivalry with the APC. In 2018, Adeleke initially led Gboyega Oyetola by 353 votes after the main ballot but lost after a supplementary election ordered by INEC, with Oyetola eventually emerging winner by 482 votes.
Adeleke reversed the outcome in 2022, defeating Oyetola with 403,371 votes against the APC candidate’s 375,027 votes.
This year’s contest, however, featured a markedly different political landscape, with Adeleke seeking re-election under the Accord platform after leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while Oyebamiji emerged as the APC standard-bearer.
The campaign was marked by intense mobilisation, political defections, allegations of intimidation and vote-buying, and fierce efforts by the leading parties to consolidate their bases across the state.
With the result, Adeleke retains control of Osun State for another four years, while the APC faces the task of rebuilding after its second consecutive defeat in the governorship contest.