The Action Democratic Party, ADP, candidate in the 2026 Osun State governorship election, Adeagbo Opawoye Yemisi, has disputed reports that she finished sixth in the poll.
Opawoye said the official result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, showed that she finished fourth among the 15 candidates who contested the election.
In a statement obtained in Osogbo on Saturday, the ADP candidate said she scored 2,946 votes in the election, according to the INEC Form EC8E, the Declaration of Result.
She also attached a copy of the EC8E form containing the votes recorded by the 15 governorship candidates.
The document was signed by the State Returning Officer for the election, Professor Joshua Ogunwole, who declared the final results after the collation process.
Opawoye said the clarification became necessary following what she described as an error in some media reports concerning the final ranking of candidates in the election.
The statement partly read, “Some media reports have incorrectly stated that Hon. Comr. Adeagbo Opawoye Yemisi, the candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), finished 6th in the election.
“This is incorrect. According to the official INEC Form EC8E – Declaration of Result, Hon. Adeagbo Opawoye Yemisi received 2,946 votes, placing her 4th among the 15 governorship candidates when the candidates are ranked according to the votes they received.”
The candidate listed the ranking as Accord in first position with 511,067 votes, followed by the All Progressives Congress, APC, with 444,815 votes, and the African Democratic Congress, ADC, with 17,180 votes.
According to the statement, “the ADP came fourth with 2,946 votes, followed by the Zenith Labour Party, ZLP, with 2,482 votes, and the Action Alliance, AA, with 2,308 votes.”
Opawoye appealed to journalists, political stakeholders and members of the public to rely on the official INEC EC8E Declaration of Result when reporting the final ranking of candidates.
“This clarification is not intended to create controversy, but simply to ensure that the public record reflects the actual votes declared by INEC,” the statement added.
The State Returning Officer, Professor Joshua Ogunwole, had declared the incumbent Governor, Ademola Adeleke, winner of the governorship election.
Governor Adeleke, who contested on the Accord platform, polled 511,067 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the APC, who scored 444,815 votes.
Osun Guber: ADP candidate disputes Osun election 6th position ranking