OSOGBO, Nigeria — Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party is leading in the ongoing collation of results from Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State. He has secured 177,572 votes, representing 50.5 per cent of the votes counted so far.

Adeleke's closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), trails with 158,588 votes, accounting for 45.1 per cent. Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress is in third place with 5,917 votes.

The collation is proceeding across the state's 30 local government areas, with results from 303 out of 332 wards reported. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) indicated that 43.41 per cent of polling units had submitted their results as the collation process neared its conclusion.

The election saw a voter turnout of 42.8 per cent, with 361,500 out of 845,100 registered voters accredited. A total of 351,500 valid votes were recorded, while 7,200 ballots were rejected.

Governor Adeleke, who is seeking re-election, had previously defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Accord Party before the election. INEC had cleared 14 political parties to contest the governorship seat.

Adeleke's running mate is Kola Adenusi. Oyebamiji, a former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), is running with Benjamin Adereti as his deputy.

Official results are expected to be formally announced by INEC’s Returning Officer at the state collation centre once all outstanding ward results are received.