PDP Crushes APC In Osun Senate Race, A Stunning Rebuke To Nigeria’s Ruling Party That Has Failed To Perform

Senator-elect, Ademola Adeleke

A senate election in Nigeria has sent shock-waves across the country and a clear warning to Nigeria’s ruling party that citizens were gradually getting fed up by promises that never came to pass after more than two years in power.

In a stunning rebuke that triggered wild jubilation, the candidate of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Ademola Adeleke, defeated Mr. Mudashiru Hussain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in a senatorial election on Saturday in the western Nigerian state of Osun.

The seat became vacant after Adeleke’s father died in mysterious circumstances. It has been alleged that he was killed.

Although it was a local election, it seemed to have punctured long held beliefs that the opposition PDP was dead in the southwest or in Nigeria in general and revived arguments that the ruling party in Osun and in Nigeria as a whole has failed to turn its lofty promises into tangible benefits.

The chief returning officer Professor Olaide Lawal of Oye Ekiti University said Adeleke PDP polled 97,480 votes, while Mudashiru Hussain of the All Progressives Congress polled 66,116 votes.

The official result declared at Baptist High School Iwo, showed the PDP candidate winning by large margin in the two local councils in his Ede home town, while only losing in Ejigbo LG, the base of his opponent, Hussain.

Adeleke also won in the remaining seven local councils including Isokan, Ayedaade and Egbemode.

Here are the results of the 10 local councils where voting was held on Saturday in the election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission:

AYEDIRE
APC: 5360
PDP: 5,789

EDE NORTH:
APC: 2784
PDP: 18,559

EDE SOUTH:
APC: 2096
PDP: 13,406

EJIGBO:
APC:12,229
PDP: 9,723

IWO:
APC: 12,205
PDP: 12,547

IREWOLE:
APC: 8,952
PDP: 9096

OLA-OLUWA:
APC: 5,316
PDP: 5,618

EGBEDORE:
APC: 4,768
PDP: 7,142

AYEDAADE:
APC: 7,179
PDP: 9,061

ISOKAN:
APC: 5,227
PDP: 6,539

TOTAL RESULT
PDP: 97,480
APC: 66,116
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MARGIN: 31,364
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The seat became vacant following the death on 23 April of Adeleke’s brother, Isiaka, a member of the APC.