The governor of Nigeria’s southwestern state of Osun, Ademola Adeleke, has retained his seat in state elections held on Saturday, August 15th, 2026.
A governor in Nigeria serves a term of four years, renewable once.
Governor-elect Adeleke, who ran on Accord party, received slightly more than 511,000 votes to defeat 14 other candidates, including Bola Oyebamiji of the ruling All Progressives Congress party (APC).
Oyebamiji got slightly over 444,800 votes to come second in an election that had one million registered voters.
Adeleke won in 19 out of Osun state’s 30 local government areas, with APC’s Oyebamiji winning in 11 strongholds.
On Sunday, the Nigerian electoral commission’s state returning officer for Osun, Joshua Ogunwole, declared Adeleke the validly elected governor.
Adeleke’s re-election sparked celebrations from many quarters in Osun, as well as from his nephew, Afrobeats musician Davido, who posted his reaction video on Instagram.
For Governor-elect, Adeleke, it was an overwhelming moment that made him lie on the ground in celebration as friends and family surrounded him.
Having being unveiled as Accord party’s candidate for Osun elections following December 2025 party primaries, 66-year-old Adeleke defended his seat on a different political party from the one that sponsored his 2022 election.
In 2022, he successfully ran on the opposition’s Peoples Democratic Party ticket, defeating the then-incumbent Governor Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress party.
In the run-up to the August 15th, 2026 elections, Adeleke exuded confidence that he would defend his seat,
Adeleke, who likes to dance in public and has been nicknamed the “Dancing Governor”, was a guest in an interview on Nigeria’s Arise News on August 11th, and the question about his track record beyond dancing came up.
Adeleke takes pride in his governance record, saying he has improved Osun state’s key economic and development sectors, including agriculture, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and rural development.
Adeleke first joined politics in July 2017, when he was elected the senator for Osun West after his elder brother, Isiaka Adeleke, died in office in April that year.
Ademola Adeleke ran on the Peoples’ Democratic Party ticket to win the senatorial by-election.
In September 2018, he contested the Osun governorship but lost to All Progressives Congress candidate Gboyega Oyetola.
In July 2022, Adeleke defeated incumbent Oyetola to become governor.
Before politics, Adeleke lived in the United States and worked as a courier service contractor.
He later served as Executive Director of Guinness Nigeria PLC from 1992 to 1999 and Pacific Holdings Limited from 2001 to 2016. Davido’s father Adedeji Adeleke owns Pacific Holdings.
