Court Battle Begins Over Osun Governorship Election

The fight for the Osun State governorship has moved to the courts. The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have both filed petitions against the results of the 15 August election. This election saw Ademola Adeleke win a second term.

Reports say the petitions were posted on the notice board of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Osogbo on Monday. This shows that the tribunal process has started.

This news comes just a day after claims that no petitions were filed before the end of the 21-day period allowed by law to contest the election results. A report from The PUNCH stated that the tribunal had not received any petitions as the 21-day window ended on Saturday. An unnamed member of the APC legal team said the party had reasons to challenge the election but chose not to do so "in the interest of peace."

But now, both the APC and PDP have submitted petitions to the tribunal regarding the election results.

The APC's petition, numbered EPT/OS/GOV/01/2026, was filed by the party's governorship candidate, Bola Oyebamiji. He named Adeleke, the Accord party, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as respondents.

The PDP's petition, numbered EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026, was filed by Adebayo Adedamola against Adeleke, INEC, and the Accord party. Adeleke, who ran for the election under the Accord party, was declared the winner by INEC with 511,067 votes. He beat Oyebamiji of the APC, who got 444,815 votes.

Details of the petitions, including the specific reasons for the challenges, were not available at the time of this report. However, the display of these petitions officially brings the disputes to the tribunal.

The PDP's petition was also submitted just before the end of the 21-day period for contesting the election. Earlier reports indicated that an Appeal Court Judgment confirmed Mr Adedamola as the party's candidate for the election.

This new development follows Mr Oyebamiji’s earlier decision to congratulate Adeleke on his re-election. He stated that the APC would seek justice and fairness through legal means regarding the election process.

With the petitions now on record, the tribunal is expected to begin the necessary legal steps. This includes serving the petitions to the respondents and carrying out pre-hearing proceedings.

These petitions will now challenge Mr Adeleke’s re-election, as the opposition parties aim to prove their case for overturning the election results.