Following his declaration as the winner of the August 15 Osun State Gubernatorial election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has presented to Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State his certificate of return.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State, Oluwatoyin Babalola, who presented the certificate of return to Governor Adeleke on Wednesday at the electoral body’s headquarters in Osogbo shortly after the Deputy Governor, Prince Kola Adewusi, was given his own, explained that it was done in accordance with the law governing the commission.
While pointing out that the ceremony confirmed the electoral mandate given to Adeleke and Adewusi by voters in the state, Babalola commended stakeholders for their contributions to the successful conduct of the election, particularly security agencies, non-governmental organisations, the media and traditional leaders.
The Osun REC who further lauded voters for their participation, revealed that the poll recorded 43.2 percent voter turnout, and urged Governor Adeleke to be magnanimous in victory.
In his speech, INEC National Supervising Commissioner for Osun State, Prof Kunle Ajayi, described the occasion as significant for democracy and the people of the State, and congratulated the Governor.
He expressed happiness for the voter turnout despite tensions and incidents of violence recorded during the build-up to the poll and noted that the conduct of the election demonstrated the resilience and determination of the people of Osun
According to him, INEC was in the state to uphold democratic principles rather than support any particular candidate.
Recall, Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party was announced as the winner of the keenly contested election in which he scored a total of 511,067 votes to beat his main challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress, APC Who garnered 444,815 votes, while Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) claimed a distant third with 17,180 votes.
