· Vote sold for N30, 000 as violence mars poll ·Aregbesola loses PU to Oyebamiji By Dayo Johnson, Dapo Akinrefon & Shina Abubakar Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party jumped into early lead over his All Progressives Congress, APC, challenger, Mr Bola Oyebamiji, in the tightly contested Osun State governorship election, last night. With results from 3,292 polling units or 87.5 percent of the 3,763 polling units uploaded by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as of press time, Adeleke had garnered over 439,132 votes compared to Oyebamiji’s 379,255 votes. Read: Osun Election Live Updates: INEC begins collation announcement of results The poll recorded impressive voter turnout but was marred by vote-buying and violence. Despite assurances of a violence-free exercise, there were pockets of violence recorded in some areas across the state. Adeleke sweeps polling unit Adeleke won his polling unit at Ward 02, PU 009, Abogunde Compound, Ede North LGA, by polling 421 votes. The announcement sparked jubilation among supporters who gathered at the unit. Earlier in the day, Adeleke voted at Sagba Abogunde Ward 2, Unit 9, and said he was confident of victory. Omisore loses polling unit Adeleke equally won the polling unit of former Osun Deputy Governor, Senator Iyiola Omisore, who, a few days before the election, declared his support for Oyebamiji Results on the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IReV, showed that Accord polled 131 votes at PU 003, Ife Ward 1, Moore, St. Gabriel Primary School, Ife East LGA. The APC finished second with 85 votes, while ADC got 10 votes. Other parties recorded marginal votes. Gov defeats Oyinlola at polling unity Earlier, the governor won at the polling unit of former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola in Okuku, Odo-Otin LGA, with 125 votes. APC got 85 votes, ADC 5. Oyinlola publicly declared his support for APC’s Oyebamiji after a spat with the governor. Oyebamiji wins Aregbesola’s polling unit However, the APC’s Oyebamiji recorded a landslide win at the polling unit of former Osun Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, in Ilesa. Results from the unit showed APC polling 256 votes to defeat Adeleke, who scored 43 votes. Aregbesola, the African Democratic Congress, ADC, National Secretary, worked for Dr Najeem Salaam, the party’s standard-bearer, who finished third with 13 votes. The former governor, a major political figure in Ijesaland, voted at the unit earlier in the day amid heavy presence of voters and observers. ICC raises alarm over plan to declare poll inconclusive Meanwhile, the Imole Campaign Council, ICC, yesterday, alleged that there was a plot by lNEC to declare the election inconclusive. Chairman of its Media and Publicity, Bamidele Salam, said the move was being pushed by APC governors and leaders to frustrate the “imminent victory” of Senator Adeleke of the Accord Party. Salam, in a statement, said: “Our party wishes to inform Nigerians of a sinister plan by INEC to declare the ongoing governorship election inconclusive, to hijack our candidate’s victory and subvert the will of the gallant Osun electorate.” He urged INEC Chairman to honour his pledge of a free, fair and credible poll, and reminded INEC, APC and security agencies of President Bola Tinubu’s directive that the election should not be compromised. Salam also called on the ‘’IGP, DSS DG, and NSCDC Commandant-General to provide security at all collation centres to stop “hoodlums hired by the APC.” He cited reports of ballot box snatching in some polling units and demanded arrests. Salam further called on local and international observers to speak out “on the side of the law and people of Osun State.” Political parties engage in vote-buying Meanwhile, agents of the frontline parties were seen engaging in vote-buying. At AUD Primary School in Atile, Ikire, Irewole LGA, Sunday Vanguard observed that party agents stationed themselves around polling booths to monitor the voters. The move, it was observed, was to monitor voters and their ballot papers to ensure they cast their votes for their candidate. It was further observed that as soon as a voter casts his or her vote, a party agent hands over a tag to enable the voter claim his or her cash. An Accord Party agent, Ajayi Ayodele, was seen accusing APC agents of clustering around the polling booths to monitor the ballot papers. Agents of the APC made similar allegations against Accord Party. Security agents were unable to curb the activities of the party agents. A security agent, names withheld, lamented that he had tried to prevent the agents from loitering around the polling booths but his efforts proved abortive. It was further gathered that political parties
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