Adeleke Leads Osun Governorship Election 2026 with 79,000-Vote Margin – INEC Yet to Declare
Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party is heading toward a commanding re-election victory in the 2026 Osun State governorship election, holding a massive lead of 79,069 votes over his closest rival, All Progressives Congress candidate Bola Oyebamiji, as collation of results continues across the state.
As of the latest figures released from the Nigeria Open Data INEC EC8A Results Aggregation portal at 7:59 pm on Saturday August 15, 2026, Adeleke had polled 452,072 votes representing 51.8 percent of votes counted, while Oyebamiji trailed with 373,003 votes representing 42.8 percent. Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress was a distant third with 14,296 votes.
The results cover 87.5 percent of the 3,763 polling units across the state, with results from 3,291 units already uploaded to INEC’s Nigeria Election Intelligence System collation dashboard. INEC has not yet made an official declaration and the final outcome will depend on results from the remaining polling units and the official collation process.
Adeleke Wins Home Base by Landslide
The incumbent governor put on a particularly dominant performance in his home Local Government Area of Ede North, polling 35,427 votes to Oyebamiji’s 10,283 votes – a margin of more than three to one. The Ede North LGA Collation Officer, Jacob Opele, announced the results at the local collation centre in what became one of the night’s most lopsided results.
In Osogbo, the state capital and the largest local government by voter population, Adeleke also prevailed — polling 36,480 votes against Oyebamiji’s 30,474. The returning officer for Osogbo LGA announced the results at approximately 12:10 am on Sunday after a full night of collation in the presence of party agents and observers.
Voter Turnout Slightly Higher Than 2022
Early figures suggest voter participation has been relatively strong for a governorship election. More than 2 million voters were registered across Osun State for the 2026 election, with 81.5 percent of registered voters collecting their Permanent Voter Cards. Results collated so far indicate that approximately 45 percent of registered voters in areas covered cast their ballots — a slight increase compared to the 2022 Osun governorship election in which Adeleke defeated then-incumbent Governor Gboyega Oyetola with 402,979 votes to 375,077 votes.
The Main Candidates
Ademola Adeleke, 66, is a former senator who represented the Osun-West senatorial district from 2017 to 2019. He is a nephew of legendary Afrobeats musician Sunny Ade and an uncle to Grammy-nominated Afrobeats superstar Davido. He won the governorship in 2022 under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party before switching to the Accord Party ahead of the 2026 election. His administration has been marked by investments in education, with the introduction of free school meals programmes, and significant spending on road infrastructure across the state.
Bola Oyebamiji, the APC candidate, ran a campaign that heavily focused on allegations of nepotism against the Adeleke administration and presented himself as a candidate for all sections of Osun society. He secured significant support in Iwo, Irewole, and Odo Otin local government areas but was unable to overcome Adeleke’s advantage in the governor’s stronghold areas.
What Happens Next
INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State will officially declare the winner once all results have been collated, verified, and accepted by the state returning officer. Any losing candidate who believes the election was conducted in violation of the Electoral Act has 21 days from the date of declaration to file a petition at the Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal.
For Oyebamiji to overturn the current 79,069-vote deficit, the APC candidate would need to secure an overwhelming majority of the votes from the remaining uncollated polling units — a mathematical possibility but an increasingly unlikely one given the scale of Adeleke’s current lead.
This is a developing story. FlashInfoNG will update this article as soon as INEC officially declares the winner of the 2026 Osun State governorship election. Bookmark this page and check back for the latest updates.