Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party has established an early lead over his major challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) continues the collation of results from Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State.
Results collated from 303 of the 332 wards across the state showed Adeleke with 177,572 votes, representing 50.5 per cent of the votes recorded so far.
Oyebamiji followed with 158,588 votes, accounting for 45.1 per cent, while the African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, was in third place with 5,917 votes.
The figures remained provisional as collation was still ongoing in the state’s 30 local government areas, with results from several outstanding wards yet to be added.
According to the figures available from the collation, 361,500 voters were accredited out of 845,100 registered voters, representing a turnout of 42.8 per cent.
The election recorded 351,500 valid votes, while 7,200 ballots were rejected.
INEC said 43.41 per cent of polling units had reported results as the exercise entered its concluding phase.
Adeleke is seeking another term in office after switching from the Peoples Democratic Party to the Accord Party ahead of the election.
Oyebamiji, a former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), is contesting on the APC platform, with Benjamin Adereti as his running mate. Adeleke’s running mate is Kola Adenusi.
INEC had cleared 14 political parties to participate in the election after the PDP and Labour Party failed to present candidates for the contest.
With the margin between the two leading candidates still subject to changes from the outstanding results, attention has shifted to the remaining wards and local government areas yet to complete their submissions.
The final result and winner of the election will be announced by INEC’s Returning Officer at the state collation centre after all results have been received, verified and collated.
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