THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Adeleke Ademola Jackson Nurudeen as the winner of the 2023 governorship election in Osun State.
Adeleke, 61, defeats Governor Adegboyega Isiaka Oyetola, 67, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with total votes of 403,371 against 375,027 won by Oyetola, a difference of 28,314 votes.
Adeleke won in 17 local government areas comprising Atakumosa West, Boluwaduro, Ede South, Ede North, Egbedore, Ejigbo, Ife North, Ifelodun, Ila, Ilesa West and Irepodun.
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Other local government areas won by the PDP candidate are Obokun, Odo-Otin, Olorunda, Oriade, Orolu and Osogbo.
The highest votes for PDP come from Osogbo (30,401), Ede North (23,931) and Olorunda (21,350).
Governor Oyetola won in 13 local government areas: Ayedaade, Ayedire, Atakumosa East, Boripe, Ifedayo, Ilesa East, Irewole, Iwo, Ife South, Ife Central, Ife East, Isokan and Ola-Oluwa.
The returning officer Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, a Professor, at exactly 7:19 am, declared Adeleke and his running mate Adewusi Kola Adegboyega, 62, as the winner of the governorship election that was also contested by Akinade Ogunbiyi, 59, of the Accord party, Yusuf Lasun, 61, of the Labour Party, Omigbodun Oyegoke Akinrinola, 58, of the Social Democratic Party and ten other candidates.
“On behalf of the INEC Chairman, I Oluwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe declare that Adeleke Ademola Jackson Nurudeen, having satisfied the law requirement, is hereby returned elected.”
The total number of registered voters in Osun as of June 2022 is 1,955,657, and not fewer than 1,463,047 have collected PVC before Saturday’s election.
This number represents an increase of 17 per cent from 2018 when 1,678,985 registered to vote.
Recall that in 2018, the APC narrowly won the governorship poll after a re-run election. Oyetola then won the governorship election by scoring a total number of 255,505 votes, while Adeleke of the PDP polled 255,023 votes.
Adeleke, from the famous Adeleke family of Ede, represented the Osun-west senatorial district between 2017 and 2019 in the National Assembly.
Ajibola Amzat, Managing Editor at The ICIR. He can be reached via aaamzat@icirnigeria.org
and @ajibolaamzat on Twitter.