TheCable

Osun Governor Rauf Aregbesola is looking very good for a second term as results from Saturday’s election continue to pour in from various polling units and booths in the state.

However, voting in Iwo and Ejigbo ─ two large districts ─ started late as a result of massive voter turnout, which overwhelmed the electoral officers.

Aregbesola’s challenger, Dr. Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), did not perform very well outside his Ife constituency where he led in four councils at the time of writing.

Aregbesola, who is flying the flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC), performed convincingly in Ilesha, Osogbo, Iwo, Ejigbo and Ede.

Other highlights from the Saturday election are:

• Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former national secretary of PDP who defected to APC a few days to the election, could not deliver his Okuku ward to his new party, unlike another former governor of the state, Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, who delivered Ede convincingly.
• In Ward 5, polling unit 8 in Modakeke, APC had 1,000 votes, compared to PDP’s 10. This was interpreted as a continuation of the Ife-Modakeke hostility, since Omisore is from Ife.
• If Aregbesola wins, it will be the first governorship election to be won by APC since it was formed from the coalition of opposition parties. The party earlier contested in Anambra and Ekiti states and lost.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is expected to announce the results in the early hours of Sunday.

TheCable will blog the collation and announcements live.