The Accord Party is on course to win the 2026 Osun State governorship election, with its candidate, Governor Ademola Adeleke, leading the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Oyebamiji, by more than 66,000 votes.
DAILY POST’s collation of the results uploaded from the field on INEC Form EC8A shows that Accord polled 491,975 votes, representing 51.9 per cent, as against the APC’s 425,731 votes, or 44.9 per cent.
This puts Adeleke ahead by 66,244 votes, with results in from 3,633 of the state’s 3,763 polling units across the 30 local government areas.
The candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Najeem Salaam, trailed a distant third with 16,513 votes, representing 1.7 per cent.
The remaining parties on the ballot shared about 14,500 votes between them.
A total of 948,768 valid votes had been counted as of the latest update.
Adeleke built the lead on strong showings across the state, holding a consistent margin of about seven percentage points from the earliest results through to the closing stages of the count.
The margin held as fresh results arrived from Ife, Ede, Osogbo and Iwo local government areas, leaving Oyebamiji with no realistic path to overturn the deficit.
The outstanding polling units, numbering about 130, include a number of units where voting was cancelled, and are not expected to alter the outcome.
DAILY POST reports that Adeleke is seeking a second term in the Bola Ige Government House, having won the 2022 election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, before defecting to the Accord Party.
A victory would be the first governorship election win for the Accord Party in Osun State.
Recall that 15 political parties were on the ballot for Saturday’s election, although two candidates, Adesina Adeyemi-Doro of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and Simon Adewale of the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, had announced their withdrawal.
The State Collation and Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is yet to formally declare a winner.
Under the Electoral Act, a candidate must poll the highest number of votes cast and meet the geographical spread requirement to be returned elected.
Osun Decides: Accord heads for victory as Adeleke leads Oyebamiji by over 66,000 votes