The All Progressives Congress (APC) has formally withdrawn its petition challenging the victory of Governor Ademola Adeleke in the August 15 Osun governorship election.
Politics Nigeria reports that the withdrawal came barely 24 hours after the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal displayed petitions purportedly filed by the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the outcome of the election.
The APC petition, numbered EPT/OS/GOV/01/2026, was filed on Saturday by the party’s counsel, Barrister Oluseyi Oyagbile. Reports indicated that the APC petition was submitted at the tribunal in the presence of the party’s deputy governorship candidate, Engineer Kayode Adereti, who signed the petition on behalf of the APC governorship candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, alongside other party leaders and executives.
However, confusion emerged within the APC over the petition, as a separate legal team led by Abiodun Layonu, SAN, publicly disowned the suit and insisted that the party had no intention of challenging the election result.
Oyagbile, who confirmed the development on Tuesday, said he withdrew the petition following a direct instruction from his client and APC leaders.
“My client and leaders of APC reached out to me this morning to withdraw the petition I filed on their behalf. I have withdrawn the petition,” he said.
The lawyer added that he deliberately obtained written instructions from the party leaders before withdrawing the case to prevent any future dispute over his authority to act.
“Before I do so, I made them send WhatsApp messages to me giving the instruction so that it will not be a matter of controversy again,” Oyagbile stated.
He further maintained that Adereti had personally signed the petition at the tribunal on Saturday in the presence of APC leaders and executives.
Meanwhile, the PDP petition listed before the tribunal has also been surrounded by controversy.
The PDP governorship candidate in the August 15 poll, Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola, popularly known as Fryo, denied authorising any legal challenge against Adeleke’s victory.
Adedamola, whose name reportedly appeared as the petitioner in the PDP suit, said he neither filed the petition nor instructed any lawyer to challenge the election.
He described the petition as strange and said he was unaware of its existence.
“There is no petition filed by me or my counsel. I don’t know where they manufactured the petition they submitted at the tribunal,” Adedamola said
“In fact, I voted for Governor Adeleke on Election Day.”
Adeleke, who contested the election on the platform of the Accord Party, was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) State Returning Officer, Prof. Joshua Ogunwole.
The governor secured 511,067 votes to defeat Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes.
Following his declaration, Adeleke described the victory as a reward from the people of Osun for his administration’s achievements in infrastructure, healthcare, security and other sectors.
He also extended an olive branch to his opponents, saying there was “no victor, no vanquished” and expressing hope that Oyebamiji would accept the result.
“I am expecting for the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, to call me and congratulate me,” Adeleke had said.
The governor also attributed his victory to his faith in God, declaring, “I have a God who never fails,” while thanking President Bola Tinubu for what he described as a successful election.
