I hereby declare that Ademola Adeleke "having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and he is returned elected," Mr Ogundipe said.

The electoral commission, INEC, has formally declared Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the governorship election held in Osun State.

The INEC Chief Returning Officer for Osun, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, who announced the result Sunday Morning said the PDP candidate scored 403,371 votes to emerge victorious.

The runner-up was the incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 375,027 votes.

I hereby declare that Ademola Adeleke "having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and he is returned elected," Mr Ogundipe said.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that apart from winning the total majority votes, the PDP also won in the majority of the state's local governments. The PDP won in 17 of Osun's 30 local governments while the APC won in 13.

None of the other 13 candidates who took part in the election won in any local government.

A total of 15 political parties took part in the election held on Saturday across the 30 local governments of Osun.

Many observers described the election as free of violence but characterised by vote buying.

The two leading candidates had also squared off in the 2018 governorship election in the state which was narrowly won by Mr Oyetola, although in controversial circumstances.

Mr Adeleke, a former senator, would see his victory in the latest election as a vindication that he was the original winner of the 2018 election.

Mr Adeleke will not, however, be sworn in until November when the tenure of Mr Oyetola is over.

APC- 375027

PDP -403,371