By Ogbeni Olawale Dawodu
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State was cruising to victory in Saturday’s governorship election as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) neared the end of results collation, with the incumbent building a commanding lead over his closest rival despite a heavy campaign push by opposition governors.
As of 2:06 a.m. Sunday, INEC had uploaded results from 3,612 of the state’s 3,763 polling units (nearly 96 per cent) to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV), with the Accord Party candidate polling 509,057 votes (51.7 per cent) to lead the APC’s Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, who trailed with 425,879 votes (43.2 per cent). The African Democratic Congress candidate, Najeem Salaam, took third with 17,393 votes.
Adeleke was ahead in 21 of the state’s 30 local government areas, with Oyebamiji leading in the remaining nine, according to the uploaded figures.
The result caps a bruising campaign in which roughly ten APC governors, including Hope Uzodimma of Imo, Monday Okpebholo of Edo, Usman Ododo of Kogi, AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq of Kwara, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun, Mai Mala Buni of Yobe and Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo, stumped for Oyebamiji, alongside Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas. Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori was represented by his deputy, Monday Onyeme.
In an embarrassing twist, two APC political heavyweights lost their home polling units. Former governor and ADC National Secretary Rauf Aregbesola was beaten at his own unit in Ilesa East, where Oyebamiji polled 256 votes to Adeleke’s 43, with Salaam a distant third on 13. Former deputy governor Iyiola Omisore fared no better, watching Accord Party defeat the APC 131 votes to 85 at his polling unit in Ife East.
Collation was briefly thrown into confusion after INEC’s IReV uploads stalled for nearly two hours once 87.48 per cent of results had been submitted, prompting Adeleke’s Imole Campaign Council to allege a plot to declare the poll inconclusive. Afrobeats star Davido joined the criticism online, demanding to know why “uploading stopped” after “3292 out of 3763 results” had come in. INEC later confirmed 207 polling units (about 5.5 per cent) opened late but were operational by 9 a.m., and resumed uploads after the delay.
Oyebamiji, casting his vote in his Ikire hometown, struck a confident tone, telling reporters the strong turnout showed “people are not intimidated” and that he expected to win, while urging security agencies to “be proactive” against possible violence later in the day.
But Adeleke’s campaign painted a starker picture of the vote. Imole Campaign Council Director-General Lere Oyewumi alleged that 52 people, including family members and party officials, were arrested at the Ikire residence of a state lawmaker in the early hours of election day, and that thugs later attacked Accord Party agents and voters at polling units in the same area. The claims had not been independently verified.
Security tensions also flared in Osogbo, where sporadic gunfire near the Ataoja D Ward 4 collation centre sent residents fleeing for roughly 15 minutes on election night; the cause of the shooting remained unclear.
ADC’s Salaam, meanwhile, accused INEC of failing to recognise his party’s agents in ten local government areas despite proper accreditation, while denying allegations of vote-buying against his campaign. He said he remained confident of victory, citing his faith and voter support.
