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By Ehichioya Ezomon
One month after the August 15, 2026, governorship election in Osun State, it appeared some “anarchists” didn’t want peace to reign, and were bent on prolonging the political crisis that almost turned the state into a killing field pre and post-the franchise that surprisingly ended in an anticlimax on Election Day.
It defies explanation how, without “authorisation” from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and their respective candidates, some members filed processes before the Election Petitions Tribunal in Osogbo, Osun’s capital city, to challenge the outcome of the poll.
In the early hours of Sunday, August 16, 2026, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party (AP) the winner of the previous day’s poll, having scored 511,067 votes to defeat his closest challenger, APC’s Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji (AMBO), who polled 444,815 votes.
The Election Petitions Tribunal office was thereafter opened for operation on the premises of the State High Court in Oke Fia, Osogbo, as the altered 1999 Constitution of Nigeria grants dissatisfied candidates and their parties a 21-day window to file election petitions.
For the Osun poll, that window closed on September 5, 2026, and PUNCH Online, which first reported on the issue on September 6, after a visit by its correspondents to the tribunal office – without specifying the time of visit – noted that the registry was opened for business, but “a staff member, who responded to enquiries, said “no petition had been received” from any of the 14 candidates and parties that contested against Governor Adeleke and the AP.
The reason isn’t far-fetched, as Oyebamiji had congratulated Adeleke, and allowed the 21-day window to file petitions to pass, in order to “de-escalate political tensions, and for peace to reign in Osun State,” the APC team of senior lawyers confirmed.
On August 29, 2026, Oyebamiji , while addressing party leaders, members and supporters on the outcome of the poll, and preparations for the 2027 General Election, congratulated Adeleke, and urged him to rein in the violence aftermath of the election.
Oyebamiji words: “I congratulate His Excellency, Senator Ademola Adeleke, the Executive Governor of Osun State, on his victory in the August 15, 2026 governorship election as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“At the same time, I call on Mr. Governor, as the Chief Security Officer of the state, to do everything within his constitutional responsibility to protect the lives and property of all citizens, particularly during this sensitive post-election period.”
A similar, but an unusual scenario played out in the PDP camp, where the candidate that emerged before the election, Adebayo Adedamola (alias Fryo), who endorsed and voted for Adeleke, as the PDP wasn’t listed by INEC to participate in the poll, denied authorising legal challenge against Adeleke.
The poll story changed from “congratulations” to a “contestation” of Adeleke’s victory, as “unauthorised” members of the APC and PDP filed processes at the tribunal, purportedly on behalf of Oyebamiji and the APC, and Adedamola and the PDP, accordingly.
In the notices of the petitions signed by the Tribunal Secretary, Belemore Diete-Spiff, and displayed on the notice board of the tribunal on Monday, September 7, the first suit, EPT/Os/Gov/01/2026, listed Oyebamiji and the APC as petitioners, and Adeleke, the AP and INEC as respondents; while the second petition, EPT/Os/Gov/02/2026, listed Adedamola and the PDP as petitioners, and the INEC, AP and Adeleke as respondents.
Vanguard reported on September 8, 2026 – about its visit to the tribunal secretariat on September 7 – that on the same day, as preparations were underway for the commencement of proceedings, “Diete-Spiff was in the courtroom alongside other officials,” and “officials of the AP and members of its legal team were also sighted at the tribunal.”
The poser: If Oyebamiji and the APC didn’t authorise filing of the petition by their legal team, comprising “Dr Abiodun Layonu (SAN), Dr Yomi Aliyu (SAN), Mr Kunle Adegoke (SAN), Dr Muritala Abdulrasheed (SAN), and other legal luminaries, Professors of Law, including Prof. Mojeed Alabi, and many others,” who did, and why? What’s the motive(s)?
Some chieftains of the Osun APC may be unhappy with Oyebamiji for letting go the challenge of the poll; President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for congratulating Adeleke before INEC declared the results; and APC’s National Secretary, Sen. Ajibola Bashiru, for visiting to congratulate Adeleke!
Going to the tribunal “unauthorised,” the “petitioners” could’ve aimed to embarrass Tinubu, Oyebamiji, Bashiru, the APC and Adeleke, who, a few days before the tribunal bombshell, had embarked on a “well-deserved vacation” overseas, thinking the coast was clear of acrimonious petitions against his victory.
Twenty-four hours after the APC legal team and the PDP candidate disowned the separate petitions, the “ghost petitioners” were unmasked, as Barr Oluseyi Oyagbile admitted to filing the suit on September 5, 2026 (the time of filing not indicated) “in company of (with) the APC deputy governorship candidate, Engr Kayode Adereti, who signed on behalf of Bola Oyebamiji and other party leaders.”
Oyagbile told The Nation on the phone on September 8 that: “My client (Oyebamiji or Adereti?) and leaders of APC reached out to me this morning to withdraw the petition I filed on their behalf; I have withdrawn the petition. Before I do (did) so, I made them send WhatsApp messages to me, giving the instruction so that it will not be a matter of controversy again.”
That settled, the head of APC’s legal team, Dr Layonu (SAN), rejected the petition in a statement titled, ‘Re: APC Challenge Gubernatorial Election at Tribunal.’ He said: “The attention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) legal team has been drawn to a bundle of papers purportedly referred to as Election Petition purportedly filed on behalf of Bola Oyebamiji and APC, purportedly challenging the victory of the incumbent Governor, Nurudeen Jackson Ademola Adeleke, as the duly elected Governor of Osun State.
“Our clients and the entire legal team were shocked to read the purported petition, as neither the candidate nor the party authorised the filing of same. We hereby denounce in absolute terms the purported petition filed in the name of APC and its gubernatorial candidate. We urge our members and the general public to discountenance the purported petition as same did not emanate from the legal team.”
Another member of the legal team, Mr Adegoke (SAN), told PUNCH that after the poll results were released, the legal team met Oyebamiji and other party leaders, to discuss the next line of action, and the decision not to challenge the election was taken after consultations, to de-escalate tension and allow peace to reign in Osun.
Adegoke words: “Right from the second day of the election, at the level of the legal team… we advised our client that the best in this circumstance is for us not to go to the tribunal. Let there be some peace, and our client said, ‘Yes, if it’s going to take us another four years to get things together for the people of Osun, let us allow it.’
“And that is the decision we took. Right from the second day, 16th of August (2026), when the result of the election was announced. That is why we allowed time to play out a little before our client came out and congratulated the Governor, Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke.
“Our client, having willingly, without pressure, without duress, congratulated Governor Adeleke, do you now think it will be legitimate, as a man of honour, for Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji to go behind and authorise the filing of a petition?
“The petition is just a piece of paper without good substance. No good petition will come from a seasoned election petition lawyer that will contain such a penchant for context. It is never done. I want to be on record that the APC legal team has denounced the bundle of papers filed by some individuals masquerading as APC lawyers. It was not authorised by APC as a party or its candidate.”
Distancing Oyebamiji and the APC from the petition, Adegoke stated that the legal team has been in existence for more than seven years, and explained that, “When we are going into an election, and the result of the election is being announced, we know where there are loopholes, we know what we can challenge.”
“At this particular point in time, we want to prove to the minds of the people that at the level of the APC, we are not termagants (violent, overbearing, turbulent, brawling, quarrelsome); we are not just litigious people who are just interested in causing brouhaha in the populace. We don’t have anything personal against Nurudeen Adeleke, the governor, or any other person in another party, whether PDP or Accord,” he said.
Adegoke added: “We are principled, and when we want to challenge or fight for something, we fight on the basis of principle. That is one thing we want to make clear to the people. And when we decided that we are not going to the Tribunal, we needed to let our client understand why we had taken that decision.
“We took our client through a gamut of our findings. It’s not like maybe the election was free; it doesn’t mean there were no malpractices. There are valid grounds to challenge the result of the election, and we decided to let the populace rest.”
An Osun-based APC lawyer, Muideen Adeoye, said the legal team had agreed with the leadership of the party not to challenge the election result at the tribunal, insisting, “I am telling you authoritatively that we did not file any petition, either for the candidate or the party,” TheNewsGuru.ng reported on September 8, 2026.
“As I am speaking with you, the legal team, in conjunction with the party hierarchy, agreed not to file any petition and we did not file any. I am also aware that notice of petition was pasted at the tribunal today (September 7). That is strange, and I repeat, we did not file the said petition.”
The PDP candidate, Adedamola, speaking on TVC News, denied authorising any legal challenge against Adeleke, saying: “I don’t know where they manufactured the petition they submitted at the tribunal, to challenge the victory of Governor Ademola Adeleke. I have not been briefed by anybody.
“I am not filing any petition against Governor Adeleke. Before the election, I already endorsed Governor Adeleke as our candidate during a press conference on August 13 (2026). I even voted for Governor Adeleke of the Accord Party.”
Having miscalculated, and forced to withdraw their petition, the scheming by the “ghost petitioners” and “mercantile litigants” to profit politically, or “cash out” from a potential victory, or further defeat of Oyebamiji and the APC at the tribunal, has turned “a bad market” they should worry about. This is hoping they’ll rest the matter, and allow Governor Adeleke to move Osun State forward in a rancour-free and peaceful environment!
• Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357.
