Governor Ademola Adeleke has won a second term mandate in the Osun state governorship election held on Saturday by defeating closest rival,APC Candidate, Munirudeen Oyebamiji and Najeem Salaam of ADC.
Governor Adeleke won a total of 511,067 votes, won in 19 local governments, Oyebamiji polled 444,811 votes while Najeem Salaam got 17,180 votes to place third out of a total votes cast of 1,0005,800. Adeleke had 50.81%, Oyebamiji got 44.23%, leaving a winning margin of 66,256 votes for the “Dancing Governor” whose victory has strengthened his political authority not only in osun state but has earned him a bargaining power within the South West as well as greater leverage in national political negotiations ahead of the 2027 General elections.
While declaring the winner of the highly competitive election that generated so much tension across the state of the living spring, the Returning officer, Prof. Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole said, Adeleke having satisfied the provisions of the electoral act for the election is declared victorious over Oyebamiji of APC and Najeem Salaam of ADC.
In his response to his declaration as the winner of the election, Governor Adeleke thanked president Tinubu for what he described as his contribution to the survival of democracy in Nigeria. Adeleke said the election had produced a victory for the people of Osun state and for democratic values. “I want to seize this opportunity to thank Mr president. Mr president has called me and he has congratulated me, thank you, Mr president for making sure democracy lives on because you fought for it”
During the peak of the electioneering campaign, Governor Adeleke said emphatically that “Osun is no longer offline. Osun is awake digitally and economically. We pay what is owed, we respect those who served. This is not politics. This is performance. This is leadership with results. Osun is rising and we are not turning back”
The performance of APC Candidate, Munirudeen Oyebamiji who placed second showed that the party is still very strong in osun state.
The osun governorship election also showed a remarkable performance card for INEC. It is a successful outcome that shows transparency of technology assisted elections can strengthen public confidence. The transparency, results uploading and collation processes seen in osun election should be made more robust and consistent in the 2027 general election.
