From Emmanuel Iyoho
ABUJA
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP ) candidate and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar has congratulated AdemolaAdeleke, winner of the Osun State governorship election,describing his success as a well-fought victory.
Abubakar thanked all stakeholders who contributed to the success as well as felicitated the people of Osun State ‘for proving that power indeed belongs to the people’.
In their swift reactions by some governors elected on the PDP platform and other members of the party, including AminuTambuwal of Sokoto, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, and IfeanyiOkowa of Delta, the party’s vice-presidential candidate, also congratulated the governor-elect.
A former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, also shared a video of himself with Adeleke’s nephew and music star, Davido, during the period of the collation of results by INEC.
Adeleke, aged 62, was returned elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after polling 403,371 votes to defeat his closest rival and incumbent governor, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, who scored 375,027 votes as well as 13 other contestants in the race.
Besides, he won 17 of the 30 local government areas (LGAs) of the state while Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) clinched the remaining LGAs.
Announcing the result, the returning officer of the election, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe declared Adeleke winner and governor-elect of Osun State.
“I declare that Adeleke Ademola Jackson Nurudeen of PDP, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and he is returned elected,” Professor Ogundipedeclared, sparking jubilation among Adeleke’s supporters.
Saturday’s election featured 15 contestants with the rematch of Oyetola and Adeleke drawing the most attention.
As the results from the local governments trickled in, it was clear that the election which was generally considered peaceful was a two-horse race between both men.
They split 96.76 per cent of the total valid votes cast in the election.
Kehinde Atanda of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) came in at a distant third with 10,104 votes, followed by Akin Ogunbiyi of the Accord Party with 4,515 votes.
Votes for the other candidates are as follows: AkinadeOgunbiyi, A party — 4,514 votes; Awojide Segun, AAC — 2,148; Kehinde Atanda, ADP –10,104; Awoyemi Lukuman, APM — 1,222; and Adebayo Elisha, APP — 601 votes.
Others are Adeleke Adedapo of BP got 374 votes; Rasaq Saliu, NNPP — 393; Abede Samuel, NRM — 777; Ayowole Adedeji, PRP — 1,007; Omigbodun Akinrinola, SDP — 515; AdemolaAdeseye, YPP — 1,303; and Adesuyi Olufemi, ZLP — 364 votes.
Observers across the state described Saturday’s poll as being very peaceful. In a preliminary report, the Civil Society Situation Room also adjudged the election as peaceful.
“From the Situation Room’s observations, no violence has been recorded and the number of people who came out was encouraging,” it said in another assessment report – the second for the day.
“We commend the people of the state of Osun for coming out early to cast their votes, especially the elderly who waited in queues patiently.”
When it came to vote-buying, however, the steps taken to combat the act fell short.
“There was open negotiation of buying and selling of votes well-coordinated by the polling agents in many of the polling units,” the Civil Society Situation Room said in its assessment of the election.
“There were no complaints from any of them (the polling agents) against each other. Codes were used to extract commitments from voters as opposed to the blatant money exchanging hands observed in the Ekiti State governorship election,” the report added.
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