• Abuja politicians caused APC’s defeat in Osun, says Sule
• Osun govt earmarks N500m endowment fund for families of victims
• ‘FUOYE VC discharged his role creditably, not invited for police interrogation’

Osun State Governor and Governor-Elect, Ademola Adeleke, yesterday, received the Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Osogbo, declaring that with his victory during last Saturday’s gubernatorial polls, he had driven darkness out of the state.

Adeleke, while addressing a gathering at the INEC headquarters in Osogbo, stated: “Today is the day the Lord has made. I have forgiven everyone that offended me.”

The governor, who attributed his re-election and receipt of his Certificate of Return to the will of God, further stated: “What else do I want? The good Lord has fought my battle and I have overcome. Osun State has overcome. I have brought light to Osun State and I drove darkness out of Osun State.”

He said that those who lost their family members to political violence before the election would not be abandoned.

The governor also commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for allowing democracy to thrive through the conduct of credible governorship polls held in the state.

Meanwhile, the Certificate of Return was presented to Adeleke and his deputy governor-elect, Kola Adewusi, by the INEC National Commissioner for South-West, Prof. Kunle Ajayi.

HOWEVER, Osun State Government has established the sum of N500 million endowment fund in honour of those killed or injured during the build-up to the just concluded August 15, 2026 governorship election in the state.

The state government also announced that Governor Ademola Adeleke’s family had offered full scholarship to children of the deceased up to university level.

According to a post yesterday by the Head of the Media Committee of Imole Campaign Council, Bamidele Salam, no victims’ family will be discriminated against on account of party affiliations.

Salam, a member of the House of Representatives, disclosed further that the Osun State House of Assembly Speaker, Adewale Egbedun, has been appointed to head a verification committee set up by the government to see to the endowment fund and the victims’ families.

IN another development, Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has attributed the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) defeat in the Osun State governorship election to what he described as the intervention of “Abuja politicians” in the party’s campaign.

Sule said the outcome also demonstrated the considerable advantage enjoyed by an incumbent governor in a governorship election.

He said the APC’s chances were undermined by the activities of some politicians from Abuja who, according to him, intervened in the state shortly before the election.

He said that APC’s loss in Osun State should not be interpreted as a rejection of the performance of the Tinubu administration at the federal level.

MEANWHILE, the management of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) has noted with concern the circulation of false and mischievous reports that the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole, who served as the Chief Returning Officer for the Osun State election, has been arrested and detained.

The university’s management, in a statement signed by its Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Dr Sunday Saanu, said that these reports were entirely false, baseless, and deliberately fabricated.