by Tari Amgbare
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday declared Governor Ademola Adeleke winner of the 2026 Osun State governorship election.
Adeleke, who contested on the platform of the Accord Party, polled 511,067 votes to defeat his closest rival, Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 444,815 votes.
The margin of victory is 66,252 votes.
Announcing the results at the State Collation Centre in Osogbo, the Returning Officer said the election was keenly contested but peaceful across the 30 Local Government Areas of the state.
According to INEC, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, came a distant third with 17,180 votes.
The Commission put total valid votes at 985,079, rejected ballots at 20,721 and total votes cast at 1,005,800.
Out of 2,339,544 registered voters in the state, 1,010,684 were accredited, representing 43.2 per cent voter turnout.
A breakdown of the results showed that Adeleke won in 19 Local Government Areas, including Ede North, Ede South, Osogbo, Ilesa and Iwo LGAs.
Oyebamiji won in 11 LGAs but failed to close the gap in the major urban centres.
The outcome marks a major setback for the APC, which had described Osun as a must-win state.
The party’s National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, had inaugurated a 276-member campaign council led by Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, for the election.
Several top party leaders, including Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, had attended the party’s mega rally in Osogbo.
Celebrations erupted in Ede, the governor’s hometown, and other parts of the state shortly after the declaration, with supporters chanting “Imole ti de.”
Adeleke, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Accord Party earlier this year, had campaigned on continuity of his administration’s welfare, infrastructure and empowerment programmes.
INEC said 95.85 per cent of polling unit results had been uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV) as at 1:33a.m. on Sunday.
The Commission is expected to present the Certificate of Return to the governor-elect in the coming days.
