— APC wins 11 councils as INEC moves towards final declaration
Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party has taken the upper hand in the fiercely contested Osun State governorship election, winning 19 of the state’s 30 Local Government Areas, according to the collated results from the councils.
His major challenger, the All Progressives Congress candidate, Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji (AMBO), won 11 LGAs.
The results put Adeleke firmly ahead as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) moves towards the final declaration of the winner in Osogbo, the state capital.
Reports from the ongoing collation indicate that the governor secured 511,067 votes, while Oyebamiji polled 444,815 votes, giving Adeleke a commanding 66,252-vote lead.
The African Democratic Congress candidate, Najeem Salaam, was a distant third with 17,180 votes across the 30 LGAs.
The contest had remained tight through much of the collation, with both candidates recording victories in different parts of the state.
Adeleke, however, pulled away through heavy margins in several of his strongholds, particularly Ede North, Ede South, Osogbo, Iwo and Ife East.
In Ede North, Adeleke scored 35,427 votes against Oyebamiji’s 10,283, a margin of more than 25,000 votes.
He also won Ede South with 26,188 votes to the APC candidate’s 6,219.
The governor further dominated in Osogbo, where he polled 36,480 votes against Oyebamiji’s 30,474, while in Iwo he recorded 27,085 votes to the APC’s 19,660.
Oyebamiji, however, delivered strong performances in several councils, including Irewole, Boripe and Ilesa East.
His biggest LGA victory came in Irewole, where he amassed 29,972 votes, crushing Adeleke’s 10,934.
The APC candidate also won Boripe with 19,963 votes to Adeleke’s 12,448 and Ilesa East with 16,208 against 12,280.
The closest battles were recorded in some of the councils won by the APC.
In Isokan, Oyebamiji edged Adeleke by just 298 votes, polling 14,063 against 13,765. In Ola-Oluwa, the APC led by 719 votes, while in Ife South its margin stood at 1,171 votes.
How the 30 LGAs went
Adeleke won: Boluwaduro, Ede South, Ife North, Ilesa West, Ifedayo, Ife Central, Orolu, Osogbo, Oriade, Odo-Otin, Ife East, Ifelodun, Iwo, Ede North, Ila, Aiyedire, Egbedore, Aiyedaade and Ejigbo.
Oyebamiji won: Ilesa East, Boripe, Irepodun, Obokun, Atakunmosa West, Irewole, Atakunmosa East, Isokan, Ola-Oluwa, Ife South and Olorunda.
The figures supplied from the 30 local government collation centres add up to 511,067 votes for Adeleke and 444,815 for Oyebamiji, confirming the 66,252-vote difference.
The election, held on Saturday, August 15, was marked by a keen contest, with reports of isolated violence, ballot-related disputes and security incidents in some locations as voting and collation progressed. Gunshots were also reported around a collation centre in Osogbo on Saturday night, sending people scrambling for safety.
Despite the tension in some areas, INEC continued the collation of results from the state’s 30 LGAs. Earlier figures uploaded to the commission’s Result Viewing Portal had already shown Adeleke maintaining an advantage over Oyebamiji.
However, the 19–11 LGA split should be read alongside the official state collation: one report has described the result as 20–10 while listing only 19 Adeleke victories and 11 APC victories.
The individual LGA figures supplied in the results above clearly produce a 19–11 split, so INEC’s final declaration remains the authoritative position.
