Political uncertainty has emerged in Osun State after two election petitions appeared before the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Osogbo, with both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) denying responsibility for the documents.
The petitions, dated September 5, 2026, were reportedly connected to the August 15 governorship election, which produced Governor Ademola Adeleke as the declared winner.
The development initially suggested that opposition candidates had decided to challenge the election result in court. However, representatives of both parties subsequently disowned the petitions.
One of the documents, marked EPT/OS/GOV/01/2026, listed APC governorship candidate Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji and the APC as petitioners.
Governor Adeleke, the Accord Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were listed as respondents.
The appearance of the petition initially appeared to indicate that the APC had commenced legal action to contest the election outcome.
However, members of the party’s legal team denied authorising the filing.
An APC legal team member, Muideen Adeoye, said neither the party nor Oyebamiji filed a petition challenging the result.
Adeoye maintained that the party’s legal team had previously agreed with the APC leadership that the election would not be challenged at the tribunal.
He therefore described the purported petition as unauthorised.
Another member of the APC legal team, Chief Abiodun Layonu, SAN, also rejected the petition.
In a statement titled “Re: APC Challenge Gubernatorial Election at Tribunal,” Layonu said the party, its candidate and members of the legal team were surprised to discover documents purporting to challenge Adeleke’s victory in their names.
He stated that neither Oyebamiji nor the APC had authorised the documents.
The Osun APC Governorship Campaign Council subsequently joined the legal team in rejecting reports that the party and its candidate had filed a petition.
In a statement issued by its Head of Media and Publicity, Oluremi Omowaiye, the campaign council described reports of an APC legal challenge as false and mischievous.
The council insisted that neither the party nor Oyebamiji authorised any petition before the tribunal.
The second document, marked EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026, was purportedly filed in the name of PDP governorship candidate Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola, popularly known as Fryo.
The petition reportedly named Adeleke, INEC and the Accord Party as respondents.
However, Adedamola also denied knowledge of the document and said he had not authorised any legal action against Adeleke.
Speaking on TVC News, the PDP candidate said he was unaware of how a petition bearing his name appeared before the tribunal.
Adedamola urged the public to disregard the document, stressing that he had no intention of challenging Adeleke’s victory.
“I am not filing any petition against Governor Ademola Adeleke,” he said.
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The separate denials by the APC and PDP candidates have raised questions over who authorised or submitted the two petitions before the tribunal.
While the documents initially appeared to signal legal challenges to the outcome of the Osun governorship election, the parties and candidates whose names appeared on the petitions have publicly distanced themselves from them.
The controversy could therefore deepen as stakeholders seek clarification on the origin and status of the documents before the tribunal.