Osun Election: Adeleke Leads Oyebamiji With 18,984 Votes

#OsunDecides2026:  Governor Adeleke Leads APC's Oyebamiji With Narrow Margin After 303 Ward Results

Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party is leading his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) continues the collation of results from Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State.

Checks on the Nigeria Elections Intelligence System showed that results from 303 of the state’s 332 wards had been collated as of the time of filing this report.

Adeleke had polled 177,572 votes, representing 50.5 per cent of the votes recorded so far, placing him ahead of Oyebamiji, who had secured 158,588 votes, representing 45.1 per cent.

The margin between the two leading candidates stood at 18,984 votes, with results from several wards and local government areas still being collated, PUNCH reports.

Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) occupied the third position with 5,917 votes.

The ongoing collation covers the state’s 30 local government areas, meaning the final outcome could only be determined after INEC completes the process and formally declares the result.

The figures available from the collation indicated that 845,100 voters were registered across the state, while 361,500 were accredited to participate in the election.

The accredited voters represented a turnout of 42.8 per cent, suggesting that fewer than half of the registered voters participated in the poll.

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

INEC also said 43.41 per cent of polling units had reported their results as the collation process entered its concluding stages.

Adeleke, who is seeking a second term as governor, contested the election on the platform of the Accord Party after defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the poll.

The governor had previously won the 2022 Osun governorship election on the PDP platform, defeating the then-incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola of the APC.

For Saturday’s election, INEC cleared 14 political parties to participate in the contest after the PDP and Labour Party failed to field candidates.

The election was closely watched in the state, with the contest largely dominated by Adeleke and Oyebamiji as results began to emerge from polling units and wards.

With Adeleke currently leading by nearly 19,000 votes based on the results available from 303 wards, attention has shifted to the remaining areas where results are expected to be presented before the final declaration.

INEC is expected to continue the collation until results from all relevant wards and local government areas have been received, verified and entered into the final tally.

Until the commission makes an official declaration, the figures from the ongoing collation remain provisional.

The final result will determine whether Adeleke retains control of the Osun State Government House or whether Oyebamiji will emerge as the next governor of the state.