Former Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, suffered an early political setback on Saturday after Governor Ademola Adeleke’s Accord Party defeated the All Progressives Congress (APC) at his polling unit, despite his high-profile endorsement of the APC governorship candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, ahead of the election.
Results published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on its Result Viewing (IReV) portal showed that the Accord Party secured 125 votes at Court Hall I, Okuku, in Odo-Otin Local Government Area to emerge victorious.
The APC polled 85 votes, while the African Democratic Congress (ADC) finished a distant third with five votes.
The African Action Congress (AAC) garnered two votes, while the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressives Party (YPP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) recorded one vote each.
The outcome is expected to attract political attention because it contradicts Oyinlola’s public backing of Oyebamiji, which many analysts believed could influence voting in his immediate community.
In the days leading to the election, Oyinlola, who governed Osun State between 2003 and 2010, openly urged residents to support the APC candidate, distancing himself from the re-election bid of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
However, the voting pattern at his polling unit painted a different picture, with the Accord Party recording a comfortable victory over the APC, suggesting that local voters were not swayed by the former governor’s endorsement.
The Osun governorship election has remained one of Nigeria’s most closely watched off-cycle polls, with Governor Adeleke seeking another term against APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji, ADC candidate Najeem Salaam and other contenders.
