Governor Ademola Adeleke has been declared the winner of the 2026 Osun State governorship election, securing a second term in office after a keenly contested poll that followed months of intense political campaigns.
The State Returning Officer for the election, Professor Joshua Ogunwole, Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, declared the results at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Collation Centre in Osogbo early Sunday.
According to the results announced by Ogunwole, Adeleke, who contested on the platform of the Accord Party, polled 511,067 votes to defeat his closest challenger, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, who scored 444,815 votes.
Collation of results from the 30 local government areas commenced at about 2:00 a.m. and was completed around 8:00 a.m., with the final declaration made at approximately 7:24 a.m.
Adeleke won in 19 local government areas, while Oyebamiji secured victory in 11 local government areas.
The incumbent governor recorded victories in Ede North, Ede South, Ejigbo, Iwo, Egbedore, Ife North, Ife East, Ife Central, Oriade, Ifelodun, Orolu, Ayedaade, Ayedire, Odo Otin, Boluwaduro, Ilesa West, Ifedayo, Osogbo and Ayedire.
Oyebamiji, on the other hand, won in Irewole, Isokan, Olorunda, Atakumosa East, Atakumosa West, Ilesa East, Boripe, Irepodun and Obokun local government areas.
Declaring the final figures, Professor Ogunwole said accredited voters stood at 1,010,684, while the total votes cast were 1,005,800. He put the total valid votes at 985,079, with 20,207 rejected votes.
The results showed that the major contenders recorded:
Accord – Ademola Adeleke: 511,067 votes
APC – Bola Oyebamiji: 444,815 votes
ADC – Najeem Salaam: 17,180 votes
Other parties recorded significantly lower figures.
After the party agents signed the collated results, the Returning Officer formally declared Adeleke the winner and returned him elected for another term.
“Ademola Nurudeen-Jackson Adeleke, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner of the August 15 governorship election and returned elected,” Ogunwole declared.
The victory extends Adeleke’s tenure as governor of Osun State following his successful first-term administration and comes after a highly competitive campaign in which the APC mounted a strong challenge across the state.
The candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Najeem Salaam, finished third in the election.
