The incumbent Osun governor, who contested the poll on the platform of the Accord, defeated his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress, who won in 11 LG areas of the state.

While Adeleke won 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 local government areas.

Oyebamiji, however, won in Irewole, Isokan, Olorunda, Atakumosa East, Atakumosa West, Ilesa East, Boripe, Irepodun and Obokun local government areas.

Declaring the results, Ogunwole said, “Accredited voters, 1010684, total votes received by political parties, A, 511067, AA, 2308, AAC, 1458, ADC, 17180, ADP, 2946, APC, 444815, APGA, 1475, APM, 234, APP, 114, BP, 111, NNPP, 118, PRP, 83, SDP, 155, YPP, 534, ZLP, 2482, total valid votes, 985079, rejected votes, 207, total vote cast, 1,005,800.”

After agents of the political parties have signed the results of the election, the Returning Officer declared Adeleke of the Accord as the winner of the poll.

“That Ademola Nurudeen-Jackson Adeleke having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declare the winner of the August 15 Governorship election and returned elected,” Ogunwole said.

The candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the poll, Najeem Salaam, came third in the poll.

He alleged that the development could leave voters and election officials vulnerable to attacks by people he described as “rampaging APC thugs”.

Adeleke Calls for Urgent Intervention

The governor appealed directly to the Inspector General of Police and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) to prevent any action that could undermine the electoral process.

“The IGP, DG DSS should not allow desperate politicians truncate Osun election,” he said. Adeleke also called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene, urging the federal authorities to ensure adequate security around polling units and collation centres.

“Mr. President should intervene now!” he added. His warning came as votes were being sorted and counted at polling units across Osun State following the governorship election.

The election featured 14 candidates, with Adeleke of the Accord Party, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress and Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress among the leading contenders.

As results continued to emerge, security remained a major concern in parts of the state, following reports of isolated violence and other incidents during the voting process.

The allegations made by Adeleke had not been independently verified at the time of filing this report, and there was no immediate response from the police, DSS or the APC on the governor’s claim.

The commission had scheduled the close of voting for 2:30pm, although voters who were already on the queue by the deadline were allowed to complete accreditation and cast their ballots.

Before the electronic uploads commenced, photographs of result sheets from various polling units had begun circulating among political parties, observers and voters.

The pace of the uploads had earlier drawn the attention of David Adeleke, the afrobeats singer popularly known as Davido, who called on INEC to make the results available on IReV without delay.

In a series tweets on X, Davido said timely publication of the results was necessary to promote transparency in the electoral process.

“INEC, it is now 2:33 p.m., yet no result has been uploaded to the IReV portal. What is the delay? Nigerians deserve transparency and timely updates,” he said.

Davido also urged voters to remain at their polling units until their results were uploaded, while asking them to verify that the figures on the result sheets were accurately entered on the electronic EC8A forms.

“Make sure your polling unit results are uploaded on IReV in your presence, and make sure the figures are entered on eEC8A. We will follow our votes bumper to bumper,” he wrote.

Davido further encouraged voters to take photographs of their polling unit result sheets and submit them through a WhatsApp channel, urging them to safeguard their votes throughout the collation process.

“Don’t leave your polling unit until it is being uploaded on the IReV; protect your vote now,” he added.