The All Progressives Congress (APC) has withdrawn its petition challenging the re-election of Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke.
This comes less than 24 hours after the details of the suit was displayed at the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal venue in Osogbo, the state capital.
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The withdrawal is the latest twists that have followed the 15 August governorship election.
APC governorship candidate Bola Oyebamiji already conceded defeat and congratulated Governor Adeleke only for the petition to be filed days later in his name and that of his party.
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In the unfolding developments, the party’s legal team publicly disowned the petition and insisted that neither the APC nor Mr Oyebamiji authorised a challenge to Mr Adeleke’s victory.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the petition, marked EPT/OS/GOV/01/2026, was one of two petitions displayed by the tribunal on Monday. It listed Mr Oyebamiji and the APC as petitioners, while Mr Adeleke, the Accord Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were named as respondents.
Following the election, Mr Adeleke was declared winner of the August 15 election by INEC with 511,067 votes, defeating his closest challenger Mr Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes.
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However, the APC’s legal team, led by Senior Advocates of Nigeria including Abiodun Layonu, Yomi Aliyu, Adekunle Adegoke and Muritala Abdulrasheed, had earlier said the party had decided not to challenge the election result after consultations with Mr Oyebamiji and other party leaders.
Mr Adegoke, speaking on behalf of the legal team, said the decision was informed partly by the need to de-escalate tensions in the state and allow peace to prevail.
Amid disavowal of the petition, Oluseyi Oyagbile, the lawyer who who signed and submitted the documents at the tribunal alongside APC deputy governorship candidate, Kayode Adereti, had also insisted that the filing was validly authorised.
Mr Oyagbile maintained that Mr Adereti signed the petition in the presence of party leaders and executives and that the case was properly filed.
However, on Tuesday, The Nation reported that Mr Oyagbile confirmed to the newspaper via a phone conversation that he had withdrawn the petition after receiving fresh instructions from his client and APC leaders.
READ ALSO: Osun APC governorship candidate Oyebamiji concedes defeat, congratulates Adeleke
“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,” Mr Oyagbile stated.
He said he sought written confirmation of the instruction before acting on it, apparently to prevent another dispute over who authorised the withdrawal.
“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,” he said.
The development is a reversal of the position that appeared before the tribunal on Monday, when the display of the petition suggested that the APC had formally filed a legal suit to challenge Mr Adeleke’s re-election within the 21-day window prescribed by the constitution.
With the APC petition now withdrawn, the legal challenge to Mr Adeleke’s re-election is left to the separate petition filed in the name of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP petition has also generated controversy, with the PDP candidate, Adebayo Adedamola, reportedly disputing the authorisation of the petition filed in his name.
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