Ademola Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and younger brother of late Senator Isiaka Adele has been declared the winner of the by-election in the Osun West Senatorial district held on Saturday.
Adeleke polled a total of 97,480 votes to defeat Mudashiru Hussain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who secured 66,116 votes.
Analysis of the results shows that in Iwo Local Government Area, Adeleke had 12,547 votes as against Hussain’s 12,205. While in Ejigbo Local Government Area, the PDP candidate polled 9,723 votes against the APC candidates 12,229 votes.
In Irewole Local Government Area, PDP had 9,096 votes against APC’S 8,952.
Adeleke also won Ayedire Local Government Area, with 5,789 votes over Hussain’s 5,360 votes.
PDP’s victory continued in Olaoluwa Local Government Area as Adeleke led with 5,618 votes to Hussain’s 5,316.
The PDP’s biggest win was in in Ede North Local Government Area, where it polled 18,599 votes as the APC candidate polled 2,784 votes.
The pattern was repeated in Ede South Local Government as Adeleke polled 13,406 votes while his opponent had 2,096 votes.
In Ayedaade Local Government Area, PDP had 9,061 votes while APC polled 7,179.
Other results were- Egbedore Local Government Area, APC, 4,768, PDP, 7,142.
Isokan Local Government Area, PDP, 6,539 votes, APC, 5,227.
Projections earlier in the day showed that Adeleke, the PDP candidate was coasting home to victory.
The result is a big blow to Governor Rauf Aregbesola, less than two years to the end of his tenure, amid permutations for the 2018 governorship election.
An APC stalwart told NAN earlier Saturday that it may be a disastrous night for the party.
“Though collation is on, projections are not favourable for our candidate, even as we await results from some units,” the stalwart close to Governor Aregbesola said.
Mr. Adeleke had wanted to run on the APC platform to replace his brother, a member of the APC, who died on April 23. He was initially cleared for the election by the party and his opponent, Mudashir Hussain, disqualified because of the allegation that he failed to resign his commissionership position.
But the National Working Committee of the party later overturned Mr. Hussain’s disqualification and cleared him to contest in the primary election.
Mr. Adeleke, believing he would be outsmarted in the scheduled primary, defected to the Peoples Democratic Party led by Ali Modu Sheriff, to run for the seat.
In the run-up to the election today, it was clear sentiments would rule the ballots, especially as the public felt an Adeleke scion should be compensated for the sudden death of Senator Isiaka Adeleke, who was planning to run for the governorship election next year.
And then, there were what seemed to be politically instigated protests against the government by pensioners and some workers, accusing the Aregbesola government of owing them arrears of payments.
With additional report from NAN