Osun Election: How Adeleke Won and What the Final Numbers Show
By Cynthia Okere, Lagos
Governor Ademola Adeleke’s victory in the 2026 Osun State governorship election was built not only on commanding performances in his strongest areas but also on wins across 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Adeleke, candidate of the Accord Party, winner of the August 15 election after the collation of results from all 30 local government areas.
Adeleke polled 511,067 votes, defeating the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, who received 444,815 votes.
The difference between the two leading candidates was 66,252 votes.
Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) finished a distant third with 17,180 votes, underscoring the extent to which the election developed into a contest between Adeleke and Oyebamiji.
Adeleke Takes 19 LGAs, APC Wins 11
A major part of Adeleke’s advantage came from the geographical spread of his victories.
The Accord candidate won 19 local government areas, while Oyebamiji secured the remaining 11. The ADC candidate did not win any LGA.
Adeleke won Boluwaduro, Ede South, Ife North, Ilesa West, Ifedayo, Ife Central, Orolu, Osogbo, Oriade, Odo-Otin, Ife East, Ifelodun, Iwo, Ede North, Ila, Aiyedire, Egbedore, Ayedaade and Ejigbo.
Oyebamiji carried Ilesa East, Boripe, Irepodun, Obokun, Atakunmosa West, Irewole, Atakunmosa East, Isokan, Ola-Oluwa, Ife South and Olorunda.
The 19–11 split was important because it showed that Adeleke’s victory was not dependent on his home base alone.
Ede Delivered Some of Adeleke’s Biggest Margins
Adeleke’s strongest performances came in his Ede strongholds.
In Ede North, he received 35,427 votes, compared with Oyebamiji’s 10,283, giving the governor an advantage of 25,144 votes in the LGA.
The pattern was similar in Ede South, where Adeleke polled 26,188 votes against the APC candidate’s 6,219.
Those two councils alone produced a substantial cushion for Adeleke before results from more competitive parts of the state were added.
But his victory extended beyond Ede.
In Osogbo, the state capital and an important electoral battleground, Adeleke defeated Oyebamiji by 36,480 votes to 30,474.
He also recorded significant victories in Ife East, where the result was 27,201 to 18,600; Iwo, where he won 27,085 to 19,660; and Egbedore, where he received 19,278 votes against Oyebamiji’s 11,194.
APC Still Recorded Strong Victories
The final figures also show that the APC remained competitive in several parts of Osun.
One of Oyebamiji’s strongest performances came from Irewole, where he polled 29,972 votes against Adeleke’s 10,934.
He also won Boripe, Ilesa East, Irepodun, Obokun, Atakunmosa East, Atakunmosa West, Isokan, Ola-Oluwa, Ife South and Olorunda.
The problem for the APC was that these victories were not enough to cancel the combined margins Adeleke accumulated across the 19 councils he won.
The final statewide gap therefore stood at 66,252 votes.
What the Overall Numbers Show
According to the figures announced following the final collation, 1,010,684 voters were accredited, while 1,005,800 votes were cast.
INEC’s collated figures put the number of valid votes at 985,079, with 20,721 rejected ballots.
Adeleke’s 511,067 votes represented just under 52 per cent of the valid votes, while Oyebamiji secured about 45 per cent.
Together, the two leading candidates accounted for more than 97 per cent of valid votes, leaving the other 13 candidates with only a small share of the electorate.
The third-placed ADC candidate’s 17,180 votes were far behind the two frontrunners, while none of the remaining candidates reached 3,000 votes.
Adeleke Improved on His 2022 Performance
The result also shows a significant change from the election that first brought Adeleke to office in 2022.
Adeleke, then contesting on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won the 2022 governorship election with 403,371 votes, defeating the then governor and APC candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, who received 375,027 votes.
His winning margin was 28,344 votes.
Four years later, Adeleke’s tally increased to 511,067 — 107,696 more votes than he received in 2022 — despite contesting under a different political platform.
His winning margin also rose from 28,344 votes in 2022 to 66,252 votes in 2026.
The number of LGAs won by Adeleke increased as well. He carried 17 councils in 2022 but won 19 in 2026, while the APC’s number declined from 13 to 11.
That comparison provides perhaps the clearest numerical picture of the election: Adeleke entered the contest as an incumbent under a different party banner but emerged with a larger statewide vote, more LGAs and a substantially wider winning margin than four years earlier.
With INEC’s declaration, Adeleke secured another four-year term as governor of Osun State.