Mr. Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was ahead of his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Mudashiru Hussain, last night as results of the Osun West Senatorial bye-election began to trickle in.
Official result of the election in Iwo Local Government showed that Adeleke had 12,547votes as against Hussain’s 12,205.
Unofficial results from Ede North and Ede South, Adeleke’s hometown, pointed to a victory for him as were early returns from Egbedore and Ola Oluwa local government areas.
Collation of ward results of the bye-election began in earnest last night with voters anxiously waiting for confirmation of the final outcome from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The election was generally peaceful.
The two leading candidates -Mudasiru Hussein of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – hailed the election as fair and peaceful although the police arrested three suspected thugs for allegedly interfering with the voting process at Okinni in Egbedore Local Government area .
The day began with a drizzle but that did not stop voters from heading to the various polling units in the 10 local government areas that make up the senatorial zone as early as 8am.
Security was tight and voters had little complaints about the supply of voting materials, especially card readers.
Restriction was placed on vehicular movement across the state, except the Ibadan/Ife/Ilesa/Akure expressway, that links Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States.
The election was preceded by a curfew in the district from 6pm on Friday to 6am yesterday.
Hussain after casting his vote at Ward 3, Unit 1, Beulah Baptist Primary School, Ejigbo,at about 9.30am expressed satisfaction ‘so far’ with the election, saying he was confident of winning.
He commended both the INEC and voters for their maturity, saying that “if elections are conducted like this it means democracy has reached an advanced level.”
For his part, Adeleke, who is the younger brother of the late Isiaka Adeleke, whose death created the vacancy voted at Saagba Abogunde compound in Ede North at 8.34 am.
He said he was “100 percent confident of victory.”
“As you can see, it rained this morning before the voting exercise commenced. This is a signal to the fact that I will carry the day. With this large turnout also, its unarguable that I will beat Hussein hands down by God’s grace,” he added.
The Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Najeem Salam, also commended the effort of security personnel in maintaining peace in Ejigbo.
Former Minister for Youth Development, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, advised the INEC to sustain credibility and standard set up by the last administration.
He spoke at his Ward 5, Unit 16 Ode-Omu, where he expressed satisfaction with the process of the election.
The police said they arrested three suspected thugs for allegedly unleashing mayhem at Igbokiti Unit, Ward 10, Okinni in Egbedore Local Government council. The thugs reportedly attacked voters and INEC adhoc officers at the polling unit.
Some voters waiting to cast their votes were allegedly matcheted and injured.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fimihan Adeoye, in a telephone chat, confirmed the arrest. He said the suspects were undergoing interrogation.
“With our vigilance and commitment to ensure peaceful conduct of the exercise, we are very happy that there is peace and there is no significant case of violence,” he said.
“We are determined to sustain peace and effective security till the end and even after the entire electoral process.”
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