By Ikechukwu Samuel
Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party has been declared the winner of the 2026 Osun State governorship election after securing the highest number of votes in Saturday’s poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Adeleke the winner after the final collation of results from all 30 Local Government Areas of the state.
The Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole, made the announcement after completion of collation of results across the state in Oshogbo, Sunday morning and declared Adeleke the winner
Adeleke polled 511,067 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 444,815 votes.
Adeleke won 19 of the 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji secured victory in 11. The Accord candidate recorded particularly strong performances in Osogbo, where he polled 36,480 votes against Oyebamiji’s 30,474, and Ede North, where he scored 35,427 votes compared with the APC candidate’s 10,283.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, finished third with 17,180 votes. Adeleke’s victory gives him another term at the Osun State Government House after his successful 2022 election victory. INEC’s Returning Officer formally declared him elected after the completion of the state-wide collation exercise.
The final result showed Adeleke ahead of Oyebamiji by 66,252 votes, underscoring the margin by which the incumbent secured re-election.
The result marks a major victory for the Accord Party and Adeleke, who contested the election after leaving the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the poll.
