The Osun State governorship battle has now shifted to the courts, with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) filing separate petitions challenging the outcome of the 15 August election that returned Ademola Adeleke for a second term.
The Nation reported that the petitions were displayed on the notice board of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Osogbo on Monday, signalling the commencement of the tribunal process.
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The development came a day after reports that no petition had been filed before the expiration of the 21-day period allowed by law for challenging the election outcome.
A report by The PUNCH said the tribunal had received no petition as the 21-day window closed on Saturday. The report quoted an unnamed member of the APC legal team as saying the party had grounds to challenge the election but decided against doing so “in the interest of peace.”
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However, the latest development shows that both the APC and PDP have now approached the tribunal over the election outcome.
The APC petition, marked EPT/OS/GOV/01/2026, was filed by the party’s governorship candidate, Bola Oyebamiji. Mr Oyebamiji listed Adeleke, the Accord and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as respondents.
The PDP’s petition, marked EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026, was filed by Adebayo Adedamola against Adeleke, INEC and the Accord.
Mr Adeleke, who contested the election on the platform of the Accord, was declared winner by INEC with 511,067 votes, defeating his closest challenger Mr Oyebamiji of the APC, who polled 444,815 votes.
The details of the petitions, including the specific grounds on which the parties are challenging the election, were not publicly available as of the time of filing this report. The display of the petitions, however, formally brings the disputes before the tribunal.
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The PDP’s petition also came at the closing stage of the 21-day period for challenging the election. Earlier reports had indicated that an Appeal Court Judgment upheld the nomination of Mr Adedamola as the party’s candidate for the election in the state.
The development also followed Mr Oyebamiji’s earlier decision to congratulate Adeleke on his re-election while saying the APC would pursue justice and fairness through lawful and constitutional means in relation to the electoral process.
With the petitions now displayed, the tribunal is expected to proceed with the necessary legal processes, including service of the petitions on the respondents and subsequent pre-hearing proceedings.
The petitions will now put Mr Adeleke’s re-election before the tribunal as the opposition parties seek to establish grounds for overturning the outcome of the election.
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