Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party has taken an early lead in the ongoing collation of results from Saturday’s Osun State governorship election, according to partial figures released from the Nigeria Elections Intelligence System.
Results from 303 of the state’s 332 wards show Adeleke polling 177,572 votes, representing 50.5 per cent of the votes counted so far. His closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), trails with 158,588 votes (45.1 per cent). Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is placed third with 5,917 votes.
The provisional figures give Adeleke a lead of approximately 18,984 votes, with results from the remaining wards still outstanding. Collation is continuing across Osun’s 30 local government areas.
Available data indicate that out of 845,100 registered voters in the areas covered so far, 361,500 were accredited, translating to a voter turnout of about 42.8 per cent. A total of 351,500 valid votes were recorded, while 7,200 ballots were rejected. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) earlier reported that 43.41 per cent of the state’s 3,763 polling units had uploaded results as collation entered its later stages.
Adeleke, the incumbent governor seeking re-election, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Accord Party ahead of the poll. His running mate is Kola Adenusi. Oyebamiji, a former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority, is contesting with Benjamin Adereti as his deputy. INEC cleared 14 political parties to participate after the PDP and Labour Party failed to field candidates.
The figures remain preliminary and do not constitute an official declaration by INEC. Official results are expected to be formally announced by the Returning Officer at the state collation centre once all outstanding wards have reported.
Stakeholders and the public are urged to remain calm and allow the Independent National Electoral Commission to complete the transparent collation process in accordance with the electoral guidelines.