Osun guber: Adeleke ahead with 177,572 votes

Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party has taken an early lead in the ongoing collation of results from Saturday’s Osun State governorship election.

Results from 303 of the state’s 332 wards showed Adeleke polling 177,572 votes, representing 50.5 per cent of the total votes counted so far.

His closest challenger, All Progressives Congress candidate Bola Oyebamiji, had 158,588 votes, representing 45.1 per cent, putting him 18,984 votes behind Adeleke.

African Democratic Congress candidate Najeem Salaam occupied the third position with 5,917 votes as collation continued across the state’s 30 local government areas.

The results also showed that 361,500 of the 845,100 registered voters had been accredited, representing a turnout of 42.8 per cent.

A total of 351,500 votes were recorded as valid, while 7,200 ballots were rejected.

The Independent National Electoral Commission said 43.41 per cent of polling units had reported their results as the collation process entered its final stages.

Adeleke, who is seeking a second term, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the Accord Party ahead of the election. INEC cleared 14 political parties to contest the poll after the PDP and Labour Party failed to field candidates.

Adeleke is contesting with Kola Adenusi as his running mate, while Oyebamiji, a former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority, is paired with Benjamin Adereti.

The final result is expected to be declared by INEC’s Returning Officer at the state collation centre after all outstanding wards have submitted their results.