By Bayo Wahab
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has declared the incumbent governor of Osun State and Accord Party candidate, Ademola Adeleke, winner of the state’s governorship election.
Adeleke secured 511,067 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who polled 444,815 votes.
Therefore, Adeleke won his re-election with 66,252-vote margin.
The returning officer Prof Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole announced the result on Sunday after collation was completed across the state’s 30 local government areas.
The African Democratic Congress, ADC, candidate, Najeem Salaam, finished third with 17,180 votes.
Adeleke President Tinubu
Reacting to his victory, Governor Adeleke thanked President Bola Tinubu, adding that the President called to congratulate him.
Adeleke, who described his re-election as a victory for democracy and Osun people, thanked the president for ensuring democracy ‘lives on.’
“I want to seize this opportunity to thank Mr President. Mr President has called me and he has congratulated me, thank you Mr President for making sure democracy lives on because you fought for it,” he said.
‘I expect Oyebamiji to call me’
Also, Adeleke declared the win as victory for democracy and the people of Osun State, and expressed appreciation to God.
He also stated that he was expecting the APC candidate, Oyebamiji, to call and congratulate him, noting that for him “It’s no victor, no vanquished”.
LGs won by Adeleke
Adeleke won 19 local government areas, while the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, won 11.
The Accord Party candidate won the following 19 local government areas:
Ede North: Adeleke — 35,427; Oyebamiji — 10,283
Osogbo: Adeleke — 36,480; Oyebamiji — 30,474
Ede South: Adeleke — 26,188; Oyebamiji — 6,219
Iwo: Adeleke — 27,085; Oyebamiji — 19,660
Ife East: Adeleke — 27,201; Oyebamiji — 18,600
Ife Central: Adeleke — 21,171; Oyebamiji — 15,913
Ifelodun: Adeleke — 21,107; Oyebamiji — 18,396
Oriade: Adeleke — 21,343; Oyebamiji — 14,863
Egbedore: Adeleke — 19,278; Oyebamiji — 11,194
Odo Otin: Adeleke — 18,003; Oyebamiji — 15,435
Ilesa West: Adeleke — 16,196; Oyebamiji — 12,756
Ila: Adeleke — 16,211; Oyebamiji — 12,934
Ayedaade: Adeleke — 16,681; Oyebamiji — 15,719
Ife North: Adeleke — 13,879; Oyebamiji — 9,613
Orolu: Adeleke — 12,352; Oyebamiji — 10,622
Boluwaduro: Adeleke — 7,118; Oyebamiji — 7,050
Ayedire: Adeleke — 11,073; Oyebamiji — 9,910
Ifedayo: Adeleke — 7,427; Oyebamiji — 6,836
Ejigbo: Adeleke — 18,458; Oyebamiji — 16,195
LGAs won by APC
Oyebamiji led in 11 local government areas, including several areas where the APC traditionally enjoys substantial support.
The APC won Ilesa East with 16,208 votes against Adeleke’s 12,280; Boripe with 19,963 against 12,448; Irepodun with 15,713 against 14,504; and Obokun with 16,120 against 12,023.
Oyebamiji also won in Atakumosa West, Irewole, Atakumosa East, Isokan, Olaoluwa, Ife South and Olorunda.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) generally recorded significantly lower figures, although it secured 5,053 votes in Ejigbo, its strongest showing among the figures supplied.
The Mathematics
The most revealing feature of the election was not simply the number of local governments won by each candidate, but the size of the margins recorded in their respective strongholds.
Some of Adeleke’s victories were particularly large, creating a substantial cushion that APC struggled to erase with its own victories.
The clearest example came from the Ede axis.
Ede delivered a huge advantage
In Ede-North, Accord scored 35,427 votes, while APC recorded 10,283. That gave Adeleke a margin of 25,144 votes in one local government. The result in Ede-South was equally significant.
Accord polled 26,188 votes, compared with APC’s 6,219, giving the governor another 19,969-vote advantage.
Combined, the two Ede councils gave Accord 61,615 votes, against APC’s 16,502. That amounted to a 45,113-vote net advantage for Adeleke from just two LGAs. It was a margin that would prove difficult for APC to neutralise elsewhere.
Osogbo adds to Adeleke’s advantage
The state capital also contributed significantly to Adeleke’s performance.
In Osogbo Local Government Area, Accord secured 36,480 votes, while APC polled 30,474. Adeleke therefore won the council by 6,006 votes.
The ADC scored 1,503 votes in Osogbo, its strongest performance among the 30 LGAs covered by the supplied results.
Osogbo was important not only because of its political significance, but also because the result demonstrated Adeleke’s ability to remain competitive in an urban centre where APC also had considerable support.
Adeleke dominates the Ife axis
The Ife area was another important component of the governor’s victory.
Accord won Ife-East, polling 27,201 votes against APC’s 18,600, a margin of 8,601 votes. In Ife-Central, Adeleke secured 21,171 votes, while APC recorded 15,913, giving Accord a further 5,258-vote advantage.
Accord also won Ife-North, where it scored 13,879 votes against APC’s 9,613, a margin of 4,266 votes. APC, however, secured Ife-South, polling 14,678 votes against Accord’s 13,507, a margin of 1,171 votes.
Overall, the four Ife councils produced 75,758 votes for Accord and 58,804 for APC, giving Adeleke a combined advantage of 16,954 votes.
Egbedore, Iwo and Oriade strengthen the lead
Adeleke’s victory was not confined to Ede, Osogbo and Ife. In Egbedore, Accord scored 19,278 votes, against APC’s 11,194, producing a margin of 8,084 votes.
In Iwo, Adeleke polled 27,085 votes, while Oyebamiji recorded 19,660, giving Accord a margin of 7,425 votes.
The governor also carried Oriade, where Accord secured 21,343 votes, compared with APC’s 14,863 — a difference of 6,480 votes.
These victories helped Adeleke accumulate the substantial overall lead that emerged from the collation.
APC remained a formidable challenger
Despite losing the election, the results showed that APC remained a major political force in Osun.
Oyebamiji won 11 of the 30 LGAs and recorded some impressive margins.
His strongest performance in the supplied results came from Irewole, where APC polled 29,972 votes, against Accord’s 10,934.
That gave APC a 19,038-vote advantage in the local government. APC also won Boripe, with 19,963 votes against Accord’s 12,448, a margin of 7,515 votes.
It further secured victories in Olorunda, Ilesa-East, Ife-South, Ola-Oluwa, Isokan, Obokun, Atakumosa-West and Atakumosa-East.
But the challenge for APC was the distribution and size of those victories. The party won several LGAs, but its combined margins were not enough to offset the much larger margins accumulated by Adeleke in his strongest areas.
Adeleke won big where it mattered
The 2026 election therefore provides an interesting lesson in electoral mathematics. A candidate does not necessarily need to win every local government to secure a statewide victory.
What matters is the aggregate vote total.
Adeleke’s 19 victories produced 511,067 votes, while APC’s 11 winning LGAs contributed to an overall total of 444,815 votes.
The difference was 66,252 votes. The Ede results alone accounted for a substantial portion of that overall margin.
This explains why APC’s victories in several councils, including Irewole and Boripe, were insufficient to overturn Adeleke’s advantage.
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