There was jubilation in Ede North Local Government Area of Osun State on Saturday after Governor Ademola Adeleke secured a landslide victory at his polling unit in the ongoing governorship election.
Adeleke, the Accord Party candidate, polled 421 votes at Ward 02, Polling Unit 009, Abogunde Compound, Ede North, to defeat his rivals at the unit. The All Progressive Congress got 29 votes at the same polling unit.
The announcement of the result triggered celebrations among supporters of the governor, who gathered at the polling unit as the votes were counted and declared.
However, the governor’s victory at his polling unit was contrasted by the performance of his major challenger, the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, who defeated Adeleke at a polling unit in Boluwaduro Local Government Area.
At Ward 06, Polling Unit 006, Oyebamiji secured 68 votes against Adeleke’s 39 votes, according to a result sheet shared by Akinsola Akin on X after the conclusion of voting and counting at the unit.
Voting in Saturday’s election began at about 9 a.m., with voting ending around 2:30 p.m. at some polling units across the state before the commencement of sorting and counting.
A total of 15 candidates are contesting the election, with 2,339,233 registered voters expected to determine who will govern the state, according to figures from the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The three leading candidates had earlier expressed confidence in victory as voting progressed and the exercise moved into the sorting and collation stage.
Adeleke, who voted at Sagba Abogunde Ward 2, Unit 9, Ede North, said after casting his ballot that he was confident of securing another mandate from the electorate.
Oyebamiji also expressed optimism about his chances after voting at Ward 09, Unit 011, Ikire, in Irewole Local Government Area.
Meanwhile, the African Democratic Congress governorship candidate, Najeem Salaam, raised concerns over the alleged non-recognition of his party agents in several parts of the state during the election.
“From the information I am getting across the state, there is widespread manipulation. We are monitoring the situation and we are hopeful that the will of the people will ultimately prevail,” he said.
Salaam also rejected allegations of vote buying involving the ADC, maintaining that the party had not engaged in any practice aimed at influencing voters with money or other inducements.
According to him, the party’s priority was to ensure that voters were allowed to exercise their franchise without interference.
“Our party is not involved in vote buying. We believe that the people should be allowed to freely choose the candidate they want. We are here to participate in a democratic process and we expect the votes of the people to count,” he said.
The candidate further alleged that some agents representing the ADC had been prevented from participating in the electoral process at certain polling units.
He described the alleged denial of access to party agents as a development capable of undermining the transparency and credibility of the election.
As the collation exercise continues, the Independent National Electoral Commission’s IReV portal had uploaded 1,386 of the 3,763 polling unit results as of 5:24 p.m. on Saturday.
The final outcome of the election will depend on the results from polling units across the state as the collation process progresses.
