Adeleke Wins Polling Unit, Boasts of Wide Margin Victory as APC Trails
Incumbent governor holds 50.5% of collated votes as INEC continues result upload from 3,763 polling units
Osun State Governor and Accord Party candidate, Ademola Adeleke, has declared that he is winning Saturday’s governorship election by wide margins, while raising serious allegations that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is plotting to manipulate the outcome through result swapping. Speaking shortly after casting his ballot at Ward 2, Unit 9, Sagba Abogunde, Ede, Adeleke expressed confidence in securing a second term based on his administration’s performance and urged voters to remain vigilant throughout the electoral process. “I am winning this election with wide margins. I have God and the people,” the governor told supporters at the polling unit.
As collation of results from the state’s 3,763 polling units continued, Adeleke maintained a significant lead over his challengers. With results from 303 of the state’s 332 wards collated, the incumbent governor had amassed 177,572 votes, representing 50.5 per cent of the votes counted. His closest challenger, the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, trailed with 158,588 votes (45.1 per cent), while the African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, occupied a distant third position with just 5,917 votes. Data from the collation exercise showed that of the 845,100 registered voters in Osun State, only 361,500 were accredited, putting voter turnout at 42.8 per cent. A total of 351,500 valid votes had been recorded, while 7,200 ballots were rejected. As of Saturday evening, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had uploaded over 2,700 polling unit results to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV), representing more than 72 per cent of the expected total.
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In a dramatic turn, Adeleke raised serious allegations against the Osun APC, claiming the party had written fake results in a bid to replace official outcomes. “We have it on good authority that fake results have been prepared for some local governments. There are concerns about attempts to replace genuine results during collation,” the governor stated. He alleged that the APC planned to move some local government collation centres to the state capital to facilitate the swap. “There are plans to move some local government collation centres to the state capital, but we will resist such moves and ensure that established procedures are respected,” Adeleke declared. The governor further appealed to INEC to ensure that results from all Local Government Areas were collated at designated centres rather than moved elsewhere after voting. “All collation must be done at each local government. Under no circumstances should local government collation be taken to the state capital,” he insisted.
Governor Adeleke also warned against any attempt to transmit election results directly from local government areas to the state capital, describing any bypass of the established collation process as “a form of rigging.” He said results should move from polling units to wards and then to local government areas before reaching the state level, and that the standard procedure must be respected to ensure transparency. “The pattern of voting should be from units to ward and to local government. Not that they will take local government collation straight to state capital. That’s not acceptable,” Adeleke said.
The governor also accused some security personnel of aiding alleged attempts by the APC to intimidate voters and manipulate the election. He called on the Inspector-General of Police and other security agencies to investigate the situation and ensure that security personnel remained neutral throughout the election. “I just received a call in Modakeke and Obaagun that police is aiding them to teargas them so that people can run away. People are resolute. They just want to perform their civic duty,” Adeleke said. He also alleged that a police officer from Port Harcourt, identified by the nickname “London,” had been brought to Ede to disrupt the election. “He’s here in Ede hiding. His own job is to come and destroy Ede and then avoid so that he can scare people, shooting so that they will not vote,” the governor claimed. Despite the allegations, Adeleke expressed confidence in his chances of winning the election. “But I can assure you, at the end of the day, I have God on my side and I have my people on my side. I am going to win this election,” the governor said.
The election results delivered early setbacks for the APC, including defeats at the polling units of two prominent party figures. At Polling Unit 003, Ife Ward 1 (Moore), St. Gabriel Primary School, Ife East Local Government Area, the Accord Party secured 131 votes against the APC’s 85 at the polling unit of former Osun Deputy Governor and ex-APC National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore. Similarly, the Accord Party won at the polling unit of former Osun Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, in Okuku, Odo-Otin Local Government Area, polling 125 votes against the APC’s 85. The ADC managed only five votes in that polling unit.
Voters reportedly turned out in large numbers across Osun to participate in the election, despite reports of isolated incidents in some areas. Reports from several Local Government Areas indicated that voting progressed smoothly at many polling units, with electoral officials conducting the exercise as residents exercised their civic rights. The election is being conducted across the state’s 30 Local Government Areas, with results expected to be collated at designated centres after voting. INEC cleared 14 political parties to contest the poll after the PDP and Labour Party failed to field candidates. Adeleke, who is seeking re-election, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Accord Party ahead of the election. He is running with Kola Adenusi as his deputy, while Oyebamiji, a former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), has Benjamin Adereti as his running mate. The final result is expected to be formally declared by INEC’s Returning Officer at the state collation centre after all outstanding results have been received and verified.