— Accord leads in several strongholds, APC dominates pockets as results emerge from 24 LGAs
Daud Olatunji
The Osun State governorship election remained fiercely contested on Saturday evening as results from polling units and ward collation centres showed a tight battle between the incumbent governor and Accord Party candidate, Ademola Adeleke, and the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, with neither party establishing a clear statewide lead from the results monitored so far.
Results obtained by PLATFORM TIMES from the situation room of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, CJID, showed a mixed pattern across the state, with Accord recording commanding victories in several polling units and local government areas, while the APC equally posted substantial margins in some of its strongholds.
The data were supplied by CJID field reporters deployed across all 30 local government areas of Osun State, while PLATFORM TIMES monitored the results as they were transmitted from polling units, wards and collation centres.
As of about 8:43pm, results had been received and monitored from at least 24 of the 30 LGAs, covering numerous wards and polling units, although collation was still ongoing in several locations.
The figures should therefore not be interpreted as the final statewide result, as the reports represent polling-unit and ward-level results received by the newsroom and situation room at different times. Some results were also still being verified at collation centres.
Accord posts strong leads
Adeleke’s Accord Party recorded some of its strongest performances in parts of Ife, Ede, Iwo, Ejigbo, Ilesa West and other areas.
At the Ife Central LGA collation centre, results from RA 02, Ilare II, gave Accord 1,641 votes against APC’s 1,339, producing a margin of 302 votes for the incumbent.
In Ejigbo, results collated from a Super RAC at Beulah Baptist School showed Accord with 1,689 votes, compared with 1,193 for APC, giving Accord a substantial 496-vote advantage.
Similarly, in Iwo, a collation result from Gidigbo II put Accord at 1,638 votes, while APC had 1,279, giving the ruling party a margin of 359 votes in that reported collation.
The incumbent also recorded significant leads in several individual polling units.
At Ede North, for instance, Accord scored 395 votes against APC’s 98 at L.A. Primary School, Alusekere II, while another unit in the same area recorded 437 votes for Accord against 59 for APC.
Another Ede North polling unit produced 416 votes for Accord and 76 for APC.
In Egbedore, a polling unit at Transformer Junction/Olofa Market recorded 296 votes for Accord against 145 for APC.
At Oriade, several units also favoured Accord. One result from Erin Oke gave Accord 202 votes against APC’s 128, while another produced 152 for Accord and 134 for APC.
At Ilesa West, Accord recorded 219 votes against 96 for APC at Ogedengbe Compound, while another polling unit returned 231 for Accord and 86 for APC.
APC fights back
The APC, however, recorded substantial victories in several areas, underscoring the competitiveness of the election.
One of the strongest APC performances monitored by PLATFORM TIMES came from Ife South, where collation results from Aare Ward showed APC with 1,762 votes, against Accord’s 1,237, giving the opposition party a commanding 525-vote margin.
At Osi Ward in the same LGA, APC also led with 941 votes against Accord’s 903, although the margin was only 38 votes.
The Aye Ward results, however, swung back towards Accord, which polled 1,400 votes against APC’s 1,350, a narrow 50-vote advantage.
In Iwo, despite Accord’s strong showing at the reported LGA collation, APC also posted impressive polling-unit results, including 177 votes against Accord’s 136 at Jagun Ilu Street II.
At one polling unit in Ilesa East, APC scored 186 votes against Accord’s 101, while another recorded APC 172 and Accord 91.
Atakunmosa East also produced strong APC figures, including 213 votes against Accord’s 168 in one polling unit and 185 against 160 in another.
Narrow margins show tight race
Several results demonstrated how closely matched the two major contenders are in parts of the state.
At Boluwaduro, one polling unit returned 108 votes for Accord and 101 for APC, a margin of only seven votes.
In Ola-Oluwa, Ward 05 collation showed APC with 1,044 votes and Accord with 1,047, leaving the incumbent ahead by just three votes.
Another Ola-Oluwa collation result from Telemu produced APC with 1,041 votes, against Accord’s 899, giving APC a 142-vote advantage.
At Atakunmosa West, seven polling units in Ward 3 produced a combined 825 votes for Accord and 760 for APC, giving Accord a 65-vote margin.
The seven-unit total was later corrected after an earlier report omitted Unit 7.
ADC remains distant in reported figures
The African Democratic Congress, ADC, and other parties featured in many of the polling-unit results but generally remained far behind Accord and APC in the figures monitored by PLATFORM TIMES.
ADC’s strongest reported individual performances were generally in the single or low double digits, although the party recorded 570 votes in the Ejigbo Super RAC collation reported from RA 003.
Across most of the individual polling units monitored, however, the contest was overwhelmingly between Accord and APC.
Disputed result, discrepancies emerge
The monitoring also recorded incidents requiring further verification.
At Obokun, Unit 04 at Ilare Market Square, the Presiding Officer reportedly nullified the result after APC and Accord agents failed to agree over the figures.
The BVAS recorded 265 accredited voters, while the votes counted for the two leading parties amounted to 266, with APC scoring 135 and Accord 131. The one-vote discrepancy was treated as over-voting.
At the Ejigbo Super RAC, officials were also reportedly addressing a discrepancy in the calculation of results from one polling unit.
In Iwo, a report indicated that an INEC official suggested postponing some BVAS uploads because darkness was causing difficulties with the process.
There was also a report from Ikire that some observers questioned the announcement of an APGA result during collation.
Results still arriving
By about 8pm, several local government collation processes were still underway.
In Boluwaduro, officials and party supporters were waiting at the LGA collation centre for the final outcome.
In Ayedade, results from several polling units had been received, but at least two units were still outstanding at the time of the report.
In Ejigbo, the Super RAC was still handling discrepancies, while in several other LGAs results were being transmitted from wards to the various collation centres.
The situation room monitoring indicates that results have so far been received from 24 LGAs, while field reporters remain deployed across the remaining six LGAs.
What the data show
The emerging figures point to a two-horse contest between Accord and APC, with the strength of the two parties varying considerably from one local government, ward and polling unit to another.
Accord has recorded large margins in Ife Central, Ejigbo, Iwo, Ede North, Ilesa West and parts of Oriade, while APC has demonstrated significant strength in Ife South, parts of Ilesa East, Atakunmosa East and sections of Iwo and other LGAs.
The figures also suggest that relatively small margins in several locations could become significant when aggregated at ward and local government levels.
However, PLATFORM TIMES cautions that no definitive statewide winner can be declared from the results currently available in the CJID situation room.
The final outcome will depend on the complete results from all polling units, their ward-level collation, subsequent local government collation and the official declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
For now, Adeleke and Oyebamiji remain locked in a highly competitive battle, with both camps recording sizeable victories as Osun awaits the final statewide tally.
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