Ademola Adeleke has been re-elected for a second term as governor of Osun State.
Adeleke, the candidate of the Accord Party, was declared the winner of the election on Sunday morning after an overnight results collation exercise in Osogbo, the state capital.
The State Returning Officer, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Prof. Joshua Ogunwole, declared the result of the poll at about 7:24 am on Sunday.
Ogunwole said Adeleke secured 511,067 votes to defeat his closest challenger in the tightly contested governorship election.
Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) placed second with a final vote tally of 444,815 votes, while Najeem Salaam, the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), was a distant third with 17,180 votes.
Adeleke won in 19 local government areas, while Oyebamiji was victorious in 11 LGAs.
Declaring the results, Ogunwole said, “Accredited voters, 1010684, total votes received by political parties, A, 511067, AA, 2308, AAC, 1458, ADC, 17180, ADP, 2946, APC, 444815, APGA, 1475, APM, 234, APP, 114, BP, 111, NNPP, 118, PRP, 83, SDP, 155, YPP, 534, ZLP, 2482, total valid votes, 985079, rejected votes, 207, total vote cast, 1,005,800.”
After agents of the political parties had signed the results of the election, the Returning Officer declared Adeleke of the Accord Party the winner of the poll.
“That Ademola Nurudeen-Jackson Adeleke, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner of the August 15 Governorship election in the poll.”
Adeleke, who secured 511,067 votes, defeated Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes. Najeem Salaam of the ADC came third in the poll.
The election took place under a cloud of apprehension and tension, given the violence and attacks reported in the preceding days.
However, despite the concerns, the election recorded a decent voter turnout, with large crowds overwhelming electoral officials at some polling units.
Although reports of election-related violence were minimal on Saturday, incidents of journalist harassment and disruptions to voting were recorded.
Voting started early in most parts of the state, but glitches with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices delayed the conclusion of voting in several polling units.
The election was also marred by documented instances of vote-buying and alleged intimidation of voters in parts of the state.
