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From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
Legal fireworks over the August 15 Osun State governorship election have begun, with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the declaration of Governor Ademola Adeleke as winner of the poll.
The petitions, dated September 5, 2026, were displayed at the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Osogbo yesterday, effectively opening another legal battle over an election involving Adeleke.
Certified True Copies (CTCs) of the petitions obtained by Daily Sun showed that APC candidate, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, popularly known as AMBO, and his party are challenging Adeleke’s return, while the PDP has separately approached the tribunal over the election in which its candidate, Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola, was controversially restored to the ballot barely two days before voting.
The APC petition, marked EPT/OS/GOV/01/2026, was brought pursuant to Sections 134, 137, 138, 139, 140, 143 and 149 of the Electoral Act, 2026 and the First Schedule to the Act.
It stated that the petitioners were dissatisfied with Adeleke’s declaration and return as winner of the August 15 election.
“The petitioners, being dissatisfied with the declaration and return of the 1st respondent as the winner of the governorship election conducted in Osun State on the 15th day of August, 2026, hereby present this petition,” part of the document read.
The PDP, in its separate petition, also challenged the outcome, naming the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Accord Party and Adeleke as respondents.
The party stated that it was duly registered and had sponsored Adedamola as its candidate for the election.
The PDP petition assumes particular significance because its logo was reportedly absent from the ballot despite a Court of Appeal judgment shortly before the election affirming Adedamola’s candidature and directing INEC to recognise him.
Full details of the grounds upon which the APC and PDP are seeking to overturn the election, as well as all the reliefs sought, were not immediately available.
Secretary of the tribunal, Pefe Belemore, confirmed receipt of petitions, while officials were seen preparing for the commencement of proceedings.
Members of Accord’s legal team were also sighted at the tribunal premises as processes towards serving the respondents got underway.
The filing ended days of uncertainty over whether Adeleke’s victory would face a legal challenge.
Earlier reports had suggested that the statutory 21-day period for filing election petitions was drawing to a close without any of the defeated candidates approaching the tribunal.
An unnamed tribunal official had reportedly said that no petition had been received as of the close of business on Saturday, while there were also reports that the APC had decided against litigation after reviewing the election results.
The CTCs, however, showed that the petitions were dated September 5, indicating that they were lodged around the closing stage of the statutory filing window.
Oyebamiji had earlier congratulated Adeleke on his re-election but maintained that the APC would pursue complaints arising from the poll through lawful and constitutional means.
INEC declared Adeleke, who contested on the platform of Accord, winner after he polled 511,067 votes.
Oyebamiji finished second with 444,815 votes, leaving a margin of 66,252 votes between them, while Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) came third with 17,180 votes.
Adeleke won 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji carried 11. The governor recorded some of his biggest victories in his Ede stronghold. He polled 35,427 votes in Ede North against Oyebamiji’s 10,283 and secured 26,188 in Ede South against the APC candidate’s 6,219. He also won Osogbo with 36,480 votes to Oyebamiji’s 30,474, alongside victories in Iwo, Ife East, Egbedore and Oriade.
Oyebamiji, however, prevailed in Irewole, Boripe, Irepodun, Obokun, Atakunmosa East, Atakunmosa West, Ilesa East, Isokan, Ola-Oluwa, Ife South and Olorunda.
According to figures announced by Returning Officer, Prof. Joshua Ogunwole, 1,010,684 voters were accredited. A total of 1,005,800 votes were cast, with 985,079 declared valid and 20,721 rejected.
The PDP’s decision to challenge the election adds an unusual twist to the legal battle.
Adeleke won his first term as governor on the PDP platform but resigned from the party on November 4, 2025, amid a prolonged leadership crisis. His departure became public about a month later.
He subsequently joined Accord and emerged as its governorship candidate after polling 145 votes at the party’s December primary.
Following his departure, Adedamola emerged as the PDP candidate with 919 votes at the party’s governorship primary.
His candidature, however, became caught in the PDP’s internal leadership crisis and he was initially excluded from INEC’s list of candidates.
Barely two days before the election, the Court of Appeal upheld his nomination and directed INEC to recognise the PDP and its candidate.
The appellate court held that the party conducted a valid primary monitored by INEC and submitted Adedamola’s name as its candidate.
But the PDP national leadership subsequently said the judgment came too late for its candidate to mount an effective campaign and directed members in Osun to support Adeleke of Accord.
The party’s decision to now challenge Adeleke’s victory therefore represents a sharp departure from the position it adopted in the closing hours of the campaign.
For Adeleke, the petitions reopen a familiar chapter: every governorship election in which he has been a major candidate since 2018 has ended up before an election tribunal.
In 2018, Adeleke, then the PDP candidate, led after the initial ballot before INEC declared the election inconclusive and ordered a supplementary poll. APC candidate Gboyega Oyetola eventually won by 482 votes.
The tribunal subsequently declared Adeleke winner, but the Court of Appeal overturned the judgment. The Supreme Court, in a split decision in July 2019, affirmed Oyetola’s election.
Adeleke returned in 2022 and defeated Oyetola, polling 403,371 votes against the incumbent’s 375,027 — a margin of 28,344 votes.
Oyetola and the APC again went to the tribunal, alleging over-voting in hundreds of polling units.
In January 2023, the tribunal, in a majority judgment, nullified Adeleke’s election and declared Oyetola winner after deducting votes it considered invalid.
The Court of Appeal reversed that decision in March 2023, holding that the petitioners failed to prove the alleged over-voting with the required polling-unit evidence.
The Supreme Court finally affirmed Adeleke’s victory on May 9, 2023.
Three years later, Adeleke is returning to the tribunal — this time as an Accord governor seeking to defend a second-term victory against challenges from both the APC and the political party on whose platform he first entered the Government House.
The tribunal is expected to proceed with service of the petitions on the respondents, after which replies, pre-hearing proceedings and substantive hearings will follow.
Adeleke and Accord had not formally responded to the petitions at the time of filing this report.
