Osun State incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke has taken an early lead in the ongoing vote collation, pulling ahead of his political rivals in the race for the state’s governor seat.
Monitoring data and official early tallies show the Accord Party candidate securing a firm foothold across key local government areas as the Osun governorship election results begin to take clear shape.
Accord Party’s Adeleke Leads
Checks by our correspondent on the Nigeria Elections Intelligence System show results from 303 of the state’s 332 wards. Ademola Adeleke has polled 177,572 votes, representing 50.5 per cent of the total votes tallied so far. His closest opposition, Bola Oyebamiji APC, sits in second place with 158,588 votes, representing 45.1 per cent.
Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress holds third place with 5,917 votes at the time of filing this report, with collation still ongoing across the state’s 30 local government areas.
Figures emerging from the collation process show that out of 845,100 registered voters, 361,500 voters were accredited. This translates to a voter turnout of 42.8 per cent across the state. A total of 351,500 valid votes were recorded, while election officials rejected 7,200 ballots.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) noted that 43.41 per cent of polling units had reported results as the process entered its concluding stages.
Political Shift Shapes the Race for Ademola Adeleke
Adeleke, who is seeking re-election, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to run as the Accord Party candidate ahead of the poll. INEC cleared 14 political parties to contest after the PDP and the Labour Party failed to field candidates for the ballot.
Adeleke is running alongside Kola Adenusi as his deputy. Meanwhile, Oyebamiji, a former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), is running with 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.
