By The legal team representing the All Progressives Congress in Osun State has disowned a petition filed in the party’s name challenging Governor Ademola Adeleke’s re-election, insisting that neither the party nor its candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, authorised any such filing before the tribunal.
“We Are Not Termagants,” Says Counsel
In a phone interview on Monday, Adekunle Adegoke (KRAD), a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and one of the leaders of the APC legal team, said the team had met with Oyebamiji and other party leaders shortly after the August 15 results were announced to weigh their options, and ultimately advised against approaching the tribunal at all.
He said the decision was rooted in a desire to de-escalate tension and let peace prevail in the state rather than any lack of legal grounds.
Adegoke named a legal team led by four Senior Advocates of Nigeria, himself, Dr Biodun Layonu, Dr Yomi Aliyu and Dr Muritala Abdulrasheed, alongside law professors including Professor Mojeed Alabi and other legal figures, saying the team had existed for more than seven years and knew exactly where any legal weaknesses in the election result might lie.
He argued that choosing not to litigate was meant to demonstrate that the APC is not driven by a reflexive appetite for legal disputes, describing the party as principled rather than litigious, and stressed that the decision carried no personal animosity toward Adeleke or any figure in the PDP or Accord Party.
Adegoke acknowledged that the team’s own findings suggested the election was not entirely free of irregularities and that valid grounds to challenge the result likely existed, but said the team chose to let the matter rest in the interest of calm, a position he said Oyebamiji accepted, reasoning that even if it took another four years to get things right for the people of Osun, peace was worth the wait.
He noted that Oyebamiji’s congratulatory message to Adeleke, delivered shortly after results were announced on August 16, reflected that same voluntary decision, made without pressure or duress, which he argued makes it implausible that Oyebamiji would then quietly authorise a petition behind the scenes.
“A Piece of Paper Without Good Substance”
Adegoke was blunt in dismissing the petition’s credibility, describing it as lacking the substance a seasoned election petition lawyer would ever produce and arguing that no competent legal filing would take the form the disputed document reportedly took.
He said he wanted it on record that the APC legal team was formally denouncing the filing, describing those behind it as individuals masquerading as APC lawyers acting without authorisation from the party or its candidate.
The Petitions in Question
The dispute centres on two petitions displayed on the notice board of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, based at the State High Court premises in Osogbo, on Monday.
According to notices signed by Tribunal Secretary Belemo Diete-Spiff, the first petition, numbered EPT/OS/GOV/01/2026, listed Oyebamiji and the APC as petitioners against Adeleke, the Accord Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The second, numbered EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026, was filed by the PDP against INEC, the Accord Party and Adeleke, even though the PDP did not field a candidate of its own in an election that drew fifteen political parties in total.
Background
The APC’s public disavowal of its own party’s petition adds an unusual twist to the legal aftermath of the closely watched August 15 governorship election, which returned Adeleke to office.
(Punch)
