Osun Guber: Adeleke Holds Slim Lead As INEC Uploads 73% Results

Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord party is holding a slim lead in the ongoing collation of results from Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) continues uploading results to its Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

As of 7:20 p.m. when THE WHISTLER visited the portal, 2,862 of the 3,763 expected polling-unit results, representing 76.06 per cent, had been uploaded.

A check by THE WHISTLER on the Nigeria Elections Intelligence System showed results from 303 of the state’s 332 wards, with Adeleke polling 177,572 votes, representing 50.5 per cent of votes cast, ahead of his closest rival, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who trailed with 158,588 votes, representing 45.1 per cent.

Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) placed a distant third with 5,917 votes as at the time of filing this report.

Collation still ongoing across the state’s 30 local government areas.

Figures from the collation showed that of the 845,100 registered voters in the affected wards, 361,500 were accredited to vote, translating to a turnout of 42.8 per cent.

A total of 351,500 valid votes have so far been recorded, against 7,200 rejected ballots.

At his own polling unit, Adeleke recorded a decisive win. Results announced by the Presiding Officer at Unit 009, Abogunde/Sagba, Ede North Local Government Area, Adebimpe Susan Dunsin, showed the governor polling 421 votes, against 29 for Oyebamiji and a single vote for Salaam.

Only 457 of the 1,082 registered voters at the unit turned out before voting closed at 4:15 p.m.

Adeleke, who is seeking a second term, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Accord party ahead of the election.

INEC had cleared 14 political parties to contest the poll after the PDP and the Labour Party failed to field candidates.

The governor’s running mate is Kola Adenusi, while Oyebamiji, a former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), is contesting alongside his deputy, Benjamin Adereti.

Results are expected to be formally declared by INEC’s Returning Officer at the state collation centre once all outstanding wards have reported.