Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, was on Sunday declared the winner, having won in 19 out of the 30 local government areas, while Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress won in 11 LGAs in the governorship election held across the state on Saturday.
Prof. Joshua Ogunwole, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, who was the State Returning Officer, declared the result of the poll on Sunday.
Adeleke polled a total of 511,067 votes to emerge victorious in the contest. Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 444,815 votes, and African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate Najeem Salam scored 17,180 votes.
Our correspondent spoke with Emperor Jarret Tenebe, the Edo APC Chairman. In his statement, Tenebe said: "It is not in my character this days to congratulate somebody who defeated me in an election because sometimes we have been winning, and for me to congratulate, I have to wait for my party to do the congratulations first.
"But all the same, the election was okay. We are party people, and that is who my governor is: a party man to the core, a great man, an administrator, and a manager of people. That was the reason why we were there to support our party. And in my character, as a party man, if my leaders take a decision on who the candidate would be, even though I know I am going to lose, I will fight till I lose.
"And if there is another opportunity again and they take another decision that I know I will lose, the only disagreement I will have with them is that I will introduce three serious strategies into it, just the way Adeleke did to us in Osun. Look at the result from Ede, you don't need a rocket scientist to tell you that those results were written, but that's not what we are talking about now. He has been declared a winner already, but it has also proved to the world that our president is a democrat.
"Our President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is somebody who believes in free and fair elections, and we are ready to always continue to fight for our party. I will continue to fight for this party, the APC, until death do us part. I congratulate the APC.
"I congratulate our candidate. I congratulate all the leaders of our party, most especially our beloved national chairman and secretary, and I also congratulate all the progressive governors who came out en masse to support the party. That is what it should be. We have more elections coming. The promise we made to Mr. President, to give him 2.5 million votes in Edo State, is sure, and it is a task that must be done.
To the president, Tenebe said "A democrat to the core, the moral compass to our evolving transparent electoral landscape.
"A City boy, thank you Mr President, 2.5 million votes sure for you in Edo 2027"
Meanwhile, Miss Biola Ojo, a student leader in Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, said "The election was free and fair. Osun State is calm now. Appreciation goes to Tinubu who made everything go peacefully. The people of Osun will remember the president for this. This shows what the heart of the president looks like, a true leader. The same thing happened in Anambra in 2025 where the sitting governor was re-elected to office without any force against anyone. Thank you to the President."