Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party is maintaining his lead as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) continues the collation of results from Saturday’s Osun State governorship election.
Checks on the Nigeria Elections Intelligence System showed that results from 303 of the state’s 332 wards had been received as of the time of filing this report.
Adeleke had polled 177,572 votes, representing 50.5 per cent of the votes recorded so far.
His closest challenger, All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Bola Oyebamiji, had secured 158,588 votes, representing 45.1 per cent.
Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) was in third place with 5,917 votes as collation continued across the state’s 30 Local Government Areas.
The figures showed a relatively close contest between Adeleke and Oyebamiji, with the incumbent maintaining a margin of 18,984 votes at the stage of collation covered by the available results.
Out of the 845,100 registered voters in the state, 361,500 had been accredited, representing a voter turnout of 42.8 per cent.
A total of 351,500 valid votes had been recorded, while 7,200 ballots were rejected.
INEC said 43.41 per cent of polling units had reported results as the collation process entered its concluding stages.
The commission is expected to continue receiving and collating outstanding results from the remaining wards before announcing the final outcome.
Adeleke Wins Polling Unit With 421 Votes
Adeleke also recorded a victory at his polling unit, where he secured 421 votes.
READ ALSO:Â Osun Residents Confront Suspected Political Thug During Election
The development comes as the governor seeks another term in office after leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and contesting the election on the platform of the Accord Party.
INEC had cleared 14 political parties to contest the election after the PDP and Labour Party failed to field candidates, although subsequent developments involving the Social Democratic Party (SDP) affected the final ballot arrangements.
Adeleke is seeking to retain the governorship of Osun State for another four-year term.
His running mate is Kola Adenusi, while Oyebamiji, a former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), is contesting with Benjamin Adereti as his running mate.
The election has been closely watched amid heightened political tension, allegations of vote buying and concerns over possible intimidation and violence.
Security agencies deployed personnel across the state to protect voters, electoral officials, materials and collation centres.
The police had also warned political parties and candidates against violence, thuggery, voter intimidation and other activities capable of undermining the electoral process.
Earlier in the day, incidents and allegations emerged from different parts of the state, including claims of suspected vote buying and confrontations involving alleged political thugs.
Political parties and their supporters have continued to monitor the collation process closely as the margin between the leading candidates remains significant but subject to the outstanding results.
The final result will be determined by INEC after all outstanding results have been collated and verified.
The commission’s Returning Officer is expected to formally declare the winner at the state collation centre once the collation process is concluded.